Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger’s ailing right shoulder will not require surgery, but he will take some time off in the next few weeks to let the injury heal following the Steelers’ 23-16 playoff loss in Denver. “They are like a league opponent like Oakland, Kansas City and San Diego”.
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“No”, said Broncos linebacker Von Miller when asked if he felt Roethlisberger looked hurt out on the field. With Pittsburgh driving and looking to extend its 13-12 lead late in the fourth quarter, Broncos corner Bradley Roby stripped Steelers running back Fitzgerald Toussaint and defensive end DeMarcus Ware quickly pounced on the ball.
Jonathan Stewart ran for 106 yards on 19 carries and extended Carolina’s string of 100-yard rushing games to 28 in the Panthers’ win.
Denver recovered the ball and drove 65 yards, going ahead on C.J. Anderson’s one-yard touchdown with three minutes remaining. “He missed a post route I know he’d like to have back to [Demaryius Thomas] that could have been a big play early in the game”, Kubiak said Monday.
“Everybody understands in the fourth quarter, there’s a sense of urgency, especially when you’re behind”, Manning said. We do this.’ That’s just going to go on forever. The Patriots advanced to their fifth straight AFC championship game, joining Oakland (1973-77) as the only teams to go to five in a row. You can’t put the game in the refs’ hands.
Sorry, Peyton, but I’m not buying any of it. As much as it’d be fantastic to see Manning light up the scoreboard and push the Broncos to the Super Bowl, that kind of storybook ending is for the movies.
In fact, the Broncos’ best chance of getting Manning to another and likely final Super Bowl is the D. That fact was hit home pointedly against Pittsburgh. Brady won in 2004, while Manning won in 2007 (as an Indianapolis Colt) and in 2014.
Perhaps it’s only fitting these two quarterbacks meet in the AFC title game, since Manning didn’t get to suit up against New England on November 29 because of a foot injury.
It was the second straight week that a Steelers player was accused of faking an injury.
“The shot was probably as painful as my shoulder was during the game”, he said. In 2008, the Cardinals upset the No. 2-seeded Panthers 33-13 in the divisional playoffs en route to their only Super Bowl appearance. Not to be overlooked, though, is it was the only touchdown march for Denver; stalling in the red zone is a formula for failure against the Patriots. “We had a great plan coming in”.
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Casserly feels the matchups for Sunday’s AFC Championship heavily favor New England’s offense.
