Two words continued to pop up in the Broncos locker room when discussing the team’s attitude toward this week’s postseason matchup — “excited” and “focused.”
“I know personally, this is the biggest game of my life,” Robert Ayers said. “That’s how I’m approaching it. I want to lay it on the line. It’s all or nothing. You win or you go home. I don’t want to go home, so I’m definitely going to give it my best effort.”
Joe Mays said the team’s excitement is growing as its tilt with the Pittsburgh Steelers on Sunday at Sports Authority Field at Mile High gets closer.
But the team isn’t letting its emotions get in the way of putting in the work it will take to come away with a victory.
“They’re not cheerleaders,” Head Coach John Fox said. “They all come to work, do their job. They are preparing. I think, obviously, any one of the 12 (playoff teams) is very excited. They understand if you don’t win you’re out of the tournament. They’re professionals, and they’re prepared.”
The players understand the challenge ahead of them, and they’re ready to make their first postseason appearance since the 2005 season count.
“I’m sure the crowd is going to be into it. It will be a great atmosphere so we’re excited about that,” Elvis Dumervil said. “We all know what’s at stake. We got in through tough circumstances, but we’re in and we have to take full advantage of that.”
PRESSURING ROETHLISBERGER
Pittsburgh quarterback Ben Roethlisberger had limited participation in Wednesday’s practice with an ankle injury.
In a conference call with the Denver media Wednesday, the signal caller said he rates his ankle’s health as a five out of 10.
But the Broncos don’t expect it to hamper the two-time Super Bowl winner.
“I’ve been watching him the last couple of games,” Ayers said. “He’s still shrugging guys off. He looks wounded, but he’s still making plays and they’re still winning. He’s a tough guy to get down. We’re not going to worry about his injury. We’re just going to worry about us.”
Dumervil agreed.
“As long as you’re out there, I’m going to come at you,” he said.
Fox said that watching the tape has shown him Roethlisberger won’t be very limited by the ankle.
Players mentioned the Steelers quarterback’s arm, mobility and most of all strength as traits that can cause them problems on Sunday.
But the defense hopes to cause him problems as well.
“It’s going to take a lot of us to get to him,” Ayers said. “He’s a tough competitor. It’s going to be a challenge as it is every week. I think we’re up for it, and I think we’re ready.”
THE UNDERDOG
Even playing at home, many see the Broncos as the underdog in Sunday’s Wild Card contest.
Lance Ball said that can be a motivation, but the team isn’t paying attention to any outside opinions.
“It really doesn’t matter, but being the underdog spices it up a little bit,” Ball said. “We’ll have that attitude going in and it’s going to be a street battle. It’s going to be mano y mano to see who is going to come out and win it.”
Mays said that underdog or not, the fact that the Broncos won the AFC West and are playing this week speaks to the character of the club.
“It just shows the type of players that we have in this locker room, the type of coaches that we have,” he said. “We’re just a bunch of resilient guys that won’t take no for an answer. We’ve been the underdog all year and we thrive on that.”
The Broncos aren’t looking for a pat on the back from the media. They’re looking to accomplish their goals, and do it as a team.
“Everybody in this locker room trusts one another, and the camaraderie is at an all-time high,” Eric Decker said. “There are no ‘me’ guys on this team, and we expect to win. We set the bar high. We had six consecutive wins. It’s not about how you get it done, but the W. You’ve got to find a way to that get.”
INJURY REPORT
For the Broncos:
DID NOT PARTICIPATE: S Brian Dawkins (neck), FB Spencer Larsen (knee), WR Eddie Royal (toe)
LIMITED: S David Bruton (Achilles)
FULL: LB Von Miller (thumb)
For the Steelers:
DID NOT PARTICIPATE: CB Cortez Allen (shoulder), LB James Harrison (toe), DE Brett Keisel (groin), RB Mewelde Moore (knee), S Troy Polamalu (calf)
LIMITED: C Maurkice Pouncey (ankle), QB Ben Roethlisberger (ankle)
FULL: G Doug Legursky (shoulder), LB LaMarr Woodley (hamstring)
Below are photos from Wednesday’s practice:
-Gray Caldwell
True bay, and I’m not defending Tebow, but he really only gets a chance to throw on obvious pass downs, or when we’re so far down, or those low percentages bombs, so I’m not sure how much I would read into the comp %. Give the guy some higher % throws, keep the D honest, and get the kid some rhythm! I’ve never in my life wanted to see a dump pass more than I do now! LOL!
Always dude!
TT throws mostly “dump” passes……….
lol, couldn’t resist that one………haha
Its funny,last year we tried to live on the dink and dunk passes of Orton,which didn’t work,now with Tebow we don’t even try!!!
You mean “dumb” passes, haha.
You mean Dumpt passes,lol.
*dumpy
We’ve been there before guys, Tebow is so slow in his decision making/throwing motion that the quick short passes are the hardest ones for him to complete from the pocket, even the dump off passes and screens.
killerkod, that made me laugh, good one!
I agree though, dink and dunk, let the kid throw to Te and RB’s to gain confidence then air it out!
lunchtime………..catch up with the blog in a bit!
What they need to do is have a WR 5 yards short and a WR 5 yards long of the WR running a route, basically three guys running the same route within 10 yards of each other so that when he is trying to throw to the one and it is short the underneath guy can catch it, likewise if he overthrows the long guy can catch it. hahaha
That’s why we need TEs,if the ones we have ain’t working we need to get more!
I have a question. Why is there always an article about “how to stop Tim Tebow” every week? If he is no threat as most analysts say then why do that kind of article? I don’t see any saying “How to stop T.J. Yates or Dalton” it just seems crazy to me.
And we got 4TEs this season, LMAO!!!
shaz,they know any article with Tebow in it people we definitely read it,that’s why they write so many articles about Tebow.
Cult hero status is all. Tebow sells.
4 TEs and none of them are working,LMAO……something ain’t right there…you think it might be something else,LOL.
shaztah, I can answer that. It is really simple. They all say that they are not worried about TT and what he can or can’t do, but, in reality they are sweating him really bad and have to change their entire practice scheme to figure out how to stop him.
Yeah, Tebow is just not equipped for the short pass in the NFL at this point and maybe will never be due to the elongated throwing motion, I truly believe that, it’s not so much a problem with the play calling as most here like to think, I wish it was that easy to correct but it isn’t.
We don’t have any tight ends, just a bunch of loose ends…
Can’t wait for game time.
Weatherman, I wish that was still true, but it hasn’t been the case for a month now, teams have figured out how to control Tebow without any difficulties, just like the wild cat, it ran it’s course.
I agree Bay!
Schnieder,
Chris Harris actually has one of th emost tackles on this team, and he didn’t play much early. Currently sitting at 72 tackles, rahim could learn a thing or 2 from him.
Woody either comes to this blog or just shares our thoughts because he is right on. And if its just great minds thinking alike … then I wonder why this concensus has not reached the mind of the OC. I agree, start off passing, not running. All we do is run run and pass on obvious pass downs. Yes Tebow is not the best passer we know but I agree we need to pass to set up the run. Back em up a lil.
Designed roll outs and bootlegs as well. Gets Tebow in open space outside the pocket where he is comfortable, but we don’t do those (this was one of the reasons I wanted Rick Dennison or Kubiak because they understand that kinda play) … this is always a good way to get the TEs involved which Tebow needs and which will improve our passing game. I don’t buy that Tebow just cannot learn anything new thats why we don’t do new things. I refuse to believe that.
I also agree that we lost alot of dink and dunk this year. In tebows games last year, he had alot of dunking options and his passing yards were high. His numbers looked good. He gained confidence. We need RB screens. JJ is as good a receiving RB as ive ever seen. He needs to be utilized more as a reciever and runner. Tebow also needs to pay attention to his check downs. Every play doesn’t always have to be a big play. Also if he wants to run … RUN. Let him. He can’t keep hesitating to run, when he should just tuck it and protect it. Sometimes keeping ur eye down the field when u should just protect the ball and run leads to fumbles.
Also the zone blitz might help Tebow. I believe he has been pinned because teams have been containing rather than blitzing and showing press man. If he gets more zones and oportunity to escape blitzes we might be able to do something.
Im gonna keep on believing. Predicted this team to win every game this year because they have the tenacity. Ill say what ive said all year … we are far from the most talented football team in the NFL … but tenacity and will go a long way.
Troy Polamalu … the wild man of bornio lol. That man is a beast. An adlibing beast. Might be our worst nightmare but if his risk fails (which it rarely does) there is a chance for big plays.
Go Get Em Boys. If the Broncos beat the Steelers and we play the Ravens in Baltimore, Ill see what I can do to attend my first ever Broncos game live.(assuming it doesn’t conflict with church)
TRB
You box Tebow in so he can’t rollout and it’s like binding his hands,or his feet,lol.
Given how much time our O-line gives Tebow, and with Tebow having a difficult time finding a WR down field, and often leading to broken plays – for the life of me I don’t know why we don’t have Royal or JJ just camping out about 2-3 beyond the line of scrimmage… What am I missing?
72 tackles for a CB seems like too many, but with this being a passing league maybe it isn’t.
Wow … that was longer than I thought.
weatherman,
For a guy who sucks, NFL.com and analysts spent a good amount of time on articles and videos on how to stop Tebow. U don’t even see that for most QBs in the NFL or players of any kind. But yet he sucks … when there were so many wrie ups and minds coming together to “expose” him.
TRB
Like a lion in a cage, and I would know, I was at the zoo yesterday, haha.
Tsunami absolutely refuses to hear anything about Tebow’s problems throwing short passes, it’s too funny…
2-3 yards*
We can have the guy camping 2-3 yards from the LOS but Tebow will over or under throw them.
Lol. Quick slants in a tight window is different than a 2 yard shovel pass to a RB…
Ah taking the kids to the Zoo,great times there Bay,a lot of walking tho,but it’s worth it to see their little faces light up!
You are right, my back and legs are shot.
While Tebow’s mechanics are flawed I still believe his is concentrating on his throwing motion too much during games. Just throw the ball regardless of the motion, just throw the ball and get it there.
Shovel pass baby! They look the same on the stat sheet that everyone seems to care about so much….
Maybe Tebow can become one of the best shovel passer in the NFL, LOL.
I don’t think TT is incapable of short passes. They just say he excells at the Deep Ball which is why they do those more … but at this rate if his deep ball accuracy is a 80/100 and his short pass is 60/100 … ill take the 60 sometimes … hoping he hits it. We dink and dunked alot in last years final 3 games. To the point that some peopel were saying all tebows yards came from the RBs and receivers doing all the work.
His deficiencies are obvious but completely avoiding risk or certain plays just makes us recycle the same old plays.
I also wonder what happened to that TE screen of sorts that Tebow used to score against the Miami Dolphins in the redzone.
Why do people keep asking for rollouts when the defenses are playing to keep him in the pocket, which means, rollouts will not work because the defense is already out there. What in the world. Why are we still trying to baby this guy. HE IS THE PROBLEM.
Interesting note made by Mark Schlereth; he said, he doesn’t understand why Tebow gets a pass for playing poorly all the time. He said if he was a great leader, and really got guys fired up, and could run block and smash guys in the mouth, but could only pass block correctly 40% of the time, he wouldn’t be playing he would be at HOME. He also noted that Von Miller the #2 pick and a stud player by ALL accounts is being benched on downs because he is ineffective, due to INJURY, but Tebow is allowed to play and he is ineffective due to lack of skill.
I’m willing to lend him one of my best shovel if that will help….
A designed shovel pass after letting the play develop could go to the house, they way our WR’s can block down field
Tebow takes too long to read the Defense to throw Quick slants,unless there is such a thing as a 4-5 second quick slant,lol.
How about that 1 foot shovel pass that WV scored 4 TDs with last night,beats all I ever seen,Clemson couldn’t defend it!!!!
lol at the best shovel passer in the NFL … if it works .. ill take it lol. TRB
BFE – bingo buddy!!!
Has anyone heard if Brian Dawkins is a go or no-go for Sunday???
I got a shovel with the handle broke out of it,I could loan him for that,lol.
Clemson couldn’t defend ANYTHING, this is the NFL.
Id be happy if people started saying we need to “Tebow” the driveway after a snow storm!
Thats just silly, the complexity of the QB position is different from that of QB … and many QBs get alot of chances to improve and keep playing. Its the way the NFL works but for Tebow he must be an instant star or a bust and benched. That is ridiculous. Even guys stinking it up 3 to 4 years down the line people are saying “give them more time” but not for Tebow. Experience helps alot. Benching him when he was a very KEY reason we even made the post season would be ridiculous. Unlike most QBs that struggle, he is actually winning with his team … and his team is avg at best.