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
McCoy definitely needs to change up the playbook for this game,or it will be ugly,we need to show them something new!
Is different from that of LB*
Dawk has yet to practice and if he does play I seriously doubt it will be any longer than a few plays like recently. Bottom line is not to count on him for much.
I think Dawk should only play if we make the superbowl … and before peopel start jumping on my back i said if. Even if the probability is 1 in 1000 it still falls under if. At this point … playing for a few plays won’t do us much good. Not unless he only ame in on 3rd downs or something.
TRB
We’re gonna have to get this Safety thing figured out,it’s killing us,we drafted supposidly the 2 best Safeties in the draft last year,and still are hurting at that position,it’s sad!
So again we are being asked to dumb down the offense for Tebow….DOES ANYONE WATCH THE GAMES….Shovel passes, quick screens, bubble screens and the like do not work because teams do not rush upfield on Tebow. THey play assignment football. The interior rushers barely leave the line and the outside onesrush outside keeping containment….forcing him to stay in the pocket and throw, or step up inside to run were the gains will be minimal. Shovel passes are meant to “trick” an overpursuing defense. No one pursues at all. The bubble screens work when corners are playing off the receivers….everyone plays bump and run or tight man on our guys. TEBOW is the problem, not the play calls. THe play calls are limited by TEBOW not the other way around.
If the recipe to beat Tebow is to contain him in the pocket, much attention goes to the edges, leaving an opening in the middle of the field for the patented Tebow shovel pass baby!!
I think Bronco fans still talk WAY too much about Tebow here everyday, if we rely on him to win us the game tomorrow we will be in for a blow out. Putting the ball in his hands to many times and letting him loose will only results in multiple INTs with a guy like Polamalu and will end this game before the half. It’s still the D and running game that gives us our best shot.
No one is asking for it to be dumbed down. Not unless McDs system was dumbed down when orton spent a godo amount of his time dinking and dunking.
We are aware they are playing man alot. We are aware that they are rarely rushing and playing contain. But a designed roll out will just come down to which line executes better … thier contain our the designed roll out. Right now its easy to pin him in becase all the plays we call are pocket passing plays. Before they started doing the pinning thing the only reason Tebow was outside the pocket was because he moved … we are asking them to try a designed roll out … a play actually designed for him to get outside of the pocket … I hear u …screens don’t work agaisnt press man, but we are also playign a zone blitz team.
TRB
The game is Sunday, not tomorrow, LOL.
New blog
I don’t think the option will work against the Steelers either,they are way too quick on the edges,run,run,run,will be hard as Hell to do against their Defense,we have to be able to pass or we lose!
Bay I have said during the entire streak that McGahee is the key to everything. When he is playing well everything else works.
lol OT just makes direct statements … too funny. I like the world he lives in
N-Y?
well thats a shock … an effective run game is the key to victory … no one is saying divert from the run … or that the run game and defense is not key to victory … nobody is saying Tebow wins this alone because no ones does. But its also tough to get a run game going when the box is stacked or when they know it will be run run pass. We HAVE to change it up a little for better or worse. The point that is being made … by woody as well, is when we DO choose to pass. Try something different. Im sure they have seen all 6 plays we have used all year on film.
TRB
TRB – what do u mean by direct statements?
Yeah, and McGahee is beat up, but I’m doing my best to keep as positive an outlook as humanly possible for this playoff game, I’ll have plenty of time to vent off after Sunday. Shoot, I think I just gave up my prediction, LOL.
TRB and Carnage, it’s like water and oil, so predictable, haha.
TRB, you take it way too personal with him, just my opinion.
blah i dont mean to take it personally
OT, When i say direct statements i mean stuff like “They are containing the edges. middle is wide open. shovel” … its just maybe not direct but u keep it simple like … if it is this then we do that, boom … thats what i meant by direct
Gotcha, thought u meant directed at someone specifically.
I got a direct statement directed at carnage:
I agree McG is crucial, but we can’t over use him if we want to make a run in the tournament.. Gotta win this game first of course, but it’d be nice if another back shows up on Sunday..
And bay, I know u secretly love NY!
I thought DAWK played good this year when he was healthy! He still has game as far as I see it!
We’ve also won games when McGahee had less than 20 rushing yards (granted im sure other RBs pitched in) … running is key in this league and running is the identity of this team … whether it be TT running McG running, Moreno, Ball or JJ. But to ignore what Tebow brings, is what i feel Carnage often does which is why I usually fire back. Its almost like … “coach johnfox could be playign QB but as long as we have McGahee, the defense, special teams and everyone else but Tebow, we win, and thats why we won” … at least thats how I interprete his disdain for a Tebow led offense. I could be wrong tho. TRB
Best case scenario IMO is to come out passing, and try to keep McG as fresh as possible. If we win by riding McG all game, we’ve sort of blown our load so to speak.. He can’t carry us the whole way with his lingering injuries. We need him, but preservation is key as well
I think we clearly need to draft RB at some point in the draft too, b/c as much as I’d love to see Moreno pan out, I’m not sure we can count on him to stay injury free
Carnage – your analysis is correct (inside defenders stay on line, outsiders keep containment, backfield plays tight man-to-man) – KC definitely used this strategy well when they knew what plays were coming – but your conclusion is wrong. Tebow is the problem, but he is also the solution.
The reason the defense can sit back and contain is because they know what’s coming. The traditional solution is better balance and lack of predictability between run, keep, short pass, and long pass play calling. Take what the defense gives you. This has been pointed out by many others and isn’t rocket science. Stretch the field vertically as well as horizontally. Actually, the Ponies already do this pretty well… they just don’t take full advantage of it. And with a Tebow at QB, we can really take full advantage of it.
Analyze most of the big, game-changing offensive plays of the past few weeks and you’ll see two things in common. 1) The plays took a while to develop; and 2) The Tebow-tracking defender was forced to make a no-win decision. This tracker is key… isolate him and force him to choose between guarding a receiver and stopping a Tebow-run. He can’t do both. And in those situations, Tebow will burn him for big yards every time.
The key to making this work is patience. Most traditional offensive plays are designed to get the ball out of the QB’s hands as quickly as possible. A Tebow-led offense doesn’t need to suffer this limitation. If the defense wants to passively contain the QB, let them. The first five seconds after the snap don’t matter much when most Tebow-sacks take 10 seconds or more to develop. After that initial 5-second period, stuff a TE or RB coming late out of the backfield into the gaping 20-yard black hole behind the tracking defender. The tracker will be forced to choose between the QB and the receiver. Whatever he picks, do the other. Collect 20 yards. Repeat.
I was at the KC game and was shocked at how often Tebow was scrambling around, desperately searching for an open receiver downfield, while the whole middle of the field was completely empty. A short, safe pass there could result in a huge gain. Do this a few times and the whole defensive containment scheme will break down.
Interesting Ben, so being at the game u can honestly say that there was nothing in the middle, it was open and we should call more plays there? because the impression i get from people bashing the kid is that there are people there and he just doesn’t see them or something. I cannot counter this as I am not in the game and the camerals only let us see but so much. But interesting analysis. TRB
You can do Broncos Ben and the steelers don’t have nothing on you.
LETS GO BRONCOSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Denver0723: Yes it was fun watching the opinion work. But like I’ve said its only a matter of time that the teams start to figure out how to stop the opinion. When a team like the Broncos that have a QB that can’t pass from the pocket its not hard to figure out how to stop the opinion. Teams have already figured it out. Now all we have from Foxes offense is run to right, run to left now lets pass on third down. Guess what, we do the same thing the next time we get the ball. Three plays & out. No immination no varity. Same thing over & over & over & over. A high school team can stop our offense. Thats how out dated it is. Mr. Elway look for a new head coach. Someone young with an immination. (Maybe Swenson)
Denver0723: Sorry about my spelling. I do mean (option). Misspelled it two or three times. Again sorry about that.