Pittsburgh at Denver

Wow, it has already been a week since my last posting. This week has been crazy at work, and I don't expect that to change much in the next couple of months. Kim has started working a couple of days a week on my days off, so when I am at home, Lauren somehow has occupied all of my time. She has a way about her that inhibits one's ability to do anything that does not directly involve 100% attention to Lauren herself. To this end, getting on the computer for any real length of time to post has not been readily available. I was hoping to get a couple of pertinent topics under my belt this week, but alas I have failed miserably in this venture. Today, however is Championship Sunday, and I don't have any excuses that would suffice for not writing today.
For those of you who are frankly sick and tired of these football postings and would like to get back to my mockery of my family, fear not. Football season is rapidly coming to a close. I will not be posting a dozen Superbowl articles over the next two weeks. Most likely, there will be one or two more football postings until we get close to the draft, and after that, you probably won't have to deal with any more football for at least three months. Those of us who are rapidly approaching the depression of the offseason, I feel obligated to write this posting. The long bleak winter is nearly upon us.
Today brings us two games and two matchups that most "experts" had not figured upon. Nearly everybody on the planet had Indianapolis last week, but Pittsburgh found a way to get past the juggernaut that was the Indy offense. It was an impressive display on the field and I will not go into the BS calls that permeated the officiating througout the weekend. There isn't another angle to cover that the sports pundits haven't beat into the ground for the past seven days, but thankfully Pittsburgh won the game despite the ineptitude of the refs. Those of you who have no idea what I am talking about probably aren't really interested in this posting and have already stopped reading anyhow. Those of you who do know what I am talking about, let's proceed to this week.
As far as Denver hosting the game today, they are fortunate to say the least. For the first time in five years, New England laid an egg in a playoff game. This was no way for a dynasty to end. I called OMAC (a die-hard Patriot fan) after the phantom pass interference penalty at the end of the first half that allowed Denver to get back into the game with absolutely no offense just to let him know that he would be able to watch the remainder of the game at my house as I was certain that his TV wouldn't function properly with that brick through the tube. He was fortunate to not have to witness the fumble by Champ Bailey that (physics be damned) went out of bounds at the one yard line that allowed Denver to maintain possession and salt the game away with their second one yard drive of the day. Nothing like home cooking in the playoffs.
But realistically, New England deserved to lose the game. Five turnovers is completely unacceptable. Denver did not deserve to win, but somebody had to come out with the victory. The champ should not limp away like the Patriots did last weekend. Sports rarely allows us the opportunity to see a team get knocked off and the torch passed along to the new bully. This past weekend did not allow that chance. The last time I can recall a consistent "passing of the torch" was back in the 80s and 90s in the NBA (probably the worst professional sports league around at this point--and that includes the NHL and professional soccer). In the late 80s, the Celtics and the Lakers dominated the game. At the end of the season, one of those teams would be hoisting the trophy, and it took years for the Pistons to knock off the Celtics and get their opportunity. After a couple of years of owning the league, that Jordan guy finally got past his hurdles in the playoffs and the Bulls took the crown. In the NFL, this almost never happens--each year a different set of teams litters the playoff landscape and there is rarely a team who holds the podium for more than one season.
The Patriots were different. They had built a team that was difficult to pigeonhole or typecast. They were a team without superstars, who understood that all 53 guys would be called upon to deliver and find a way to win. They had found a way to get to the second week of the playoffs this year, but the team that showed up in Denver had none of the mistake-free characteristics that made the past teams so dominant. The Patriots gave this game away and Denver happened to be the recipient last Saturday.
Now, realize that none of this matters today. Denver came out flat (just as Indy had last week) but managed to win and move on, which frankly is the only thing that matters. Pittsburgh won an emotional game and played about as perfect a brand of football as they were capable of pulling off. Cowher apparently read my posting on Sunday morning, because his gameplan followed exaclty what I said that they would need to do in order to pull out the upset--get ahead by two scores before the Colts knew what happened, slow the game down, keep Manning out of his rhythm and find a way to hold on. With the exception of the Bettis fumble, they played mistake-free, opportunistic football and won the game (as opposed to what Denver lucked into). Had Vanderjagt hit that 46 yarder to tie the game, Indy would have won in overtime and Jerome Bettis would forever be known as Bill Buckner to all Pittsburgh fans. It would be a shameful way for his Hall of Fame career to end, but that would be his legacy. There would be the indelible imprint of his career washed away by one play that we would watch again and again and again and the pain that Steeler fans would hold in their heart until their dying day could never be assuaged. Jerome probably bought Big Ben a Burrito Supreme from Taco Bell on the way home for saving his legacy with that tackle (hell, he might have even let him get some of those tasty cinnamon crispas and supersize his drink). So, thankfully Steeler nation is off life support and breathing today.
I am having a tough time getting a read on this game. Denver is 9-0 at home this season and it is always a tough place to play and there is a real difference in playing 60 minutes at 5280 feet elevation and playing a game at sea level. The Broncos are a very good team and I don't think that they are going to come out and play the same fortunate brand of football that got them the victory last week. This team still has something to prove and the Steelers need to bring the same game that they mustered last week to Invesco Field today. Bill Cowher has been to five of these AFC championship games (hosting all of them). He has only managed to win one in 1995 when Jim Harbaugh's Colts couldn't hold on to a Hail Mary as time expired in a truly memorable game. Other than that, he has failed to pull out any victories in this game.
I love Cowher as a coach. He has an incredible intensity, gameplans better than he is given credit for, develops players better than anybody in the business, brings up quality assistants and does an outstanding job of managing the game. For some reason, he has failed miserably on Championship Sunday. This year, for some reason feels different. His team is not the favorite this year. They are on the road for the third straight week and his players have bought into the us against the world mentality and they just seem hungrier than the teams they are playing. Two weeks ago, they were fortunate to have Carson Palmer go down on the first passing play of the game, but last week they looked like worldbeaters. One of the greatest mistakes that one can make is reading too much into how a team plays one week and assuming that it will translate into success on the field in subsequent weeks. If we were to assume that the team that escaped Jon Kitna and the Bengals was the same team that would show up in Indy, most of us would have bet our mortgage on the Colts last week. Hopefully, none of you did that. If I am to assume that the Broncos team from last Saturday was going to be the ones who showed up today, you can take Pittsburgh to the bank--they will dominate. Here's the problem. It all boils down to matchups. Which team can effectively impose their will upon the other--that's it. Denver and Pittsburgh are carbon copies of one another. They love to run the ball and they are very effective at stopping the run. They both ask their Quarterbacks to make few mistakes and to "manage the game" effectively. Whichever team is able to do this better today will be the team who comes out on top. Both teams managed to knock out Goliath last week and feel that Destiny is on their side. All things being equal (which they appear to be), the game should be a draw and Denver wins by the three points bestowed upon the home team by Vegas oddsmakers.
For some reason today, I just love Pittsburgh. Maybe I can't get the emotional victory of last weekend out of my mind, maybe I just know that Troy Polamalu will find a way to get a couple of interceptions again, maybe Cowher just needs to be on the road to win this game, maybe the fact that the D-line for Denver has been owned by Pittsburgh for the past 6 seasons when they made Cleveland their home, maybe the extra adhesive that Jerome Buckner has on his hands today locks down the game, maybe the blitzing schemes that Dick LeBeau comes up with are the most creative and hard to pick up in the business, maybe my childhood love of the Steelers still affects me somehow, but I don't think that's it. I think it boils down to big #7 Ben Roethlisberger. This kid just finds a way to win. The Steelers lost five games this year, but the vast majority of those came with Ben on the bench with a severe knee sprain, or trying to fight through the pain by coming back too soon. When this guy has been healthy, Pittsburgh has been lethal. Knowing that you have to stop the Steelers running game only opens up the passing lanes and single coverage matchups for Hines Ward and Randle-El, and Roethlisberger finds the open man. Heath Miller has become one of the top five tight ends in his rookie season as well. Somehow, the Steelers find a way to get home to Detroit for Billy Bettis today.
Pittsburgh 23 - Denver 16

I will post a separate posting for the Seattle/Carolina game before kickoff.