Roethlisberger disagreed on Tuesday, saying “I don’t buy he was pushed”. Tom Brady, Philip Rivers and Jay Cutler couldn’t hit the 300-yard mark against the Broncos, who typically line up in press man-to-man pass coverage. “Those guys have got speed over there”. “There’s got to be a level of professionalism when you play”, Roethlisberger said. In their recent games they have had a close matchup against the New Orlean Saints and a win over the Dallas Cowboys that was closer than the final score dictated. They’re second in rushing yards allowed per game and give just 3.3 yards per attempt, the fewest in the league. The Minnesota Vikings, a team battling for an NFC wild card spot, are also predicted to easily beat the Chicago Bears at home. They prove it week in and week out. Well, Denver could use one or two of those to help their struggling offense get going.
Advertisement
The Bengals have a quality front, so this proved to be a good test for the former first-round pick, and he held up well overall.
The pass rush is particularly potent, especially with OLB DeMarcus Ware returning to the field a week ago. It’s quite possible the No. 2 seed in the AFC will be decided by Brock Osweiler and AJ McCarron next week when the Broncos and Bengals meet on Monday Night Football.
“Every year we come in with new hope and, here again, we’re going to have another season where we have a playoff drought”, Campbell said during his weekly news conference. “That’s what we do”. “A lot of teams were hot before they played us”. And it’s a good thing because the Steelers’ have the league’s most explosive offense. It is not a foul if the defender is blocked (or fouled) into the passer and has no opportunity to avoid him; Note 1: A defender can not initiate a roll or lunge and forcibly hit the passer in the knee area or below, even if he is being contacted by another player. It starts with quarterback Ben Roethlisberger and wideout Antonio Brown, but there’s also Markus Wheaton, Martavis Bryant, tight end Heath Miller and running back DeAngelo Williams.
Ben Roethlisberger said opposing defense always take chances when they employ such tactics against Brown. The offense has been a big part of that, scoring an average of 35.2 points in that span.
“Nobody throws the deep ball better than him”, admitted Denver head coach Gary Kubiak.
Tomlin, meanwhile, is trying to shut out all the external conversation about how we’ll they’ve been doing to focus on the challenge each week brings. We have to come in here, work hard and do everything that is necessary to win. We understand where we are, but we’re not dwelling on it or spending a great deal of time dwelling on it. We don’t care.
Advertisement
“We have a competitive, positive group, young and exciting similar to what we had when Mike Wallace and Emmanuel were here”, Brown said. “That’s where our focus is”.
