When it comes to stopping the run, no NFL team has been better at harnessing that responsibility than the Steelers.

Through seven games this season, Pittsburgh’s defense is allowing a league-low 76.6 rushing yards per game. The Cincinnati Bengals (100 yards) and Detroit Lions (110 yards) are the only two Steelers opponents to post 100-plus yards on the ground.

While Pittsburgh has been stout against the run, offensive line coach Rick Dennison was more focused on what his unit can control, beginning with improving its toughness from the previous week.

“I think you have to execute every week and you’ve got to be tough every week,” Dennison said. “There is nobody that is going to just let you walk around and make yards. We just have to be better than we were last week.”

The Bengals (75 yards) and Ravens (66 yards) are the only two teams to hold the Broncos under 100 yards rushing, as Denver mustered a season-low total a week ago in Baltimore. To reverse that trend, Dennison’s line will turn its attention to containing the Steelers’ lineup of smooth rushers, led by James Harrison.

Harrison leads defensive coordinator Dick Lebeau’s defense with eight sacks this season. Seven of those sacks have come over the last four games, helping the Steelers to an undefeated 4-0 mark their October contests against the Chargers, Lions, Browns and Vikings.

“He is just a really good player,” Dennison said. “He plays very hard and he knows what he is doing - very slippery. (You) have to try and stay in front of him and then when the play is over that is when you stop blocking — not before.”

One of the players entrusted to perform that task is Tyler Polumbus. With Ryan Harris sidelined due to a toe injury, Polumbus is slated to start in Harris’ place at right tackle.

Regardless of the how remodeled rotation works, Dennison said the responsibilities for all of the Broncos’ linemen are concrete.

“Get an opportunity to play, do well, do your assignment, do the techniques and just try and focus on those things,” Dennison said. “I think that is what everyone of them is trying to do.”

INJURY UPDATE
There were several changes on Friday to the Broncos’ Week 9 Injury Report. After not participating in Thursday’s session, Josh Barrett (hamstring) was a limited participant. After being limited participants during Thursday’s session, David Bruton (groin) and Jack Williams (illness) were full participants on Friday. Peyton Hillis (not injury related) did not participate in Friday’s practice.

On the other side, there were no changes to the Steelers’ report.

Here are some photos from the onset of Friday’s practice.

– Chris Gentilviso, DenverBroncos.com

One game does not make a season. But it can be cause for some concern. Such is the place where the Broncos find themselves, at least to some degree.

The bottom line is the Ravens dominated the Broncos last weekend. There is no getting around that.

But it’s one game. It’s not a trend; it’s not a pattern; it’s not necessarily the start of the Broncos’ demise. There is no need to call Chicken Little.

All together now…breathe in deeply…hold it for a moment…slowly exhale. The Broncos are still 6-1. Last I checked, that’s pretty good.

When the Broncos won six straight games to being the season, many people probably thought that would continue. But nobody who follows the NFL believes a team will go undefeated.

The Ravens simply had to win that game. They were 3-3 and had lost three consecutive games. They were at home. They have a huge road game against a division opponent (Cincinnati) on Sunday, November 8.

As a result, the Ravens played with utter desperation. The fact is it is hard to match that desperation and urgency when a team is 6-0…and on the road…and facing a talented team. Those aren’t excuses. Those are the facts of life in the NFL.

The big question now is: Where do the Broncos go from here?

I believe the Broncos will return to their winning ways. Why?

First, the fact is they lost one road game to a really good team. It seems to me the Patriots, for example, were in that position after they left Invesco Field at Mile High. Just because the Broncos lost one game doesn’t mean they’ll lose another two or three or four in a row. It also doesn’t mean a freefall is imminent.

Certainly the loss to the Ravens brought some areas to light that the Broncos need to shore up. Let’s give them the chance to show whether or not they make those improvements before assuming the season is going down the drain.

Next, the Broncos have given ample evidence that they are a good team. They won their first six games. They dominated clearly inferior teams such as the Browns and Raiders. They found ways to beat good teams like the Cowboys and Patriots. They came up with a really good road win over the division-rival Chargers. One loss, as bad as it was, doesn’t render those wins flukes.

In addition, the Broncos’ defense is still playing well. Even though the offense sputtered and put the defense in some tough spots against the Ravens, the Broncos only trailed 6-0 at halftime. It didn’t get out of hand until the fourth quarter.

Good defense keeps a team in a game. I don’t believe the Broncos’ defense is any worse than it was two weeks ago.

Also, I have to believe that with last week’s loss and the defending Super Bowl champion Pittsburgh Steelers coming to town for Monday Night Football, the Broncos will play with higher levels of desperation and urgency this week. Doing so won’t guarantee a win but it won’t hurt.

You might as well put on your seat belt now. The season has turned interesting for the Broncos. But don’t pick up the phone just yet. Chicken Little isn’t home right now.

What do you make of the loss to the Ravens and how do you think the Broncos will respond? Thanks for reading and posting, too.

Sincerely,
Mike

Arguably no one in the Broncos’ locker room knows the Pittsburgh Steelers — as presently constructed — better than Ryan McBean.

After all, the 6-foot-5, 295-pound defensive lineman spent his first two seasons in the NFL (2007-08 and 2008-09) on Pittsburgh’s practice squad. So he got a first-hand look at the defending Super Bowl Champions last season.

Well-versed in Pittsburgh’s defensive scheme, McBean said he has been able to share a few notes about Dick LeBeau’s unit with his offensive counterparts. But he has plenty of confidence that the offense will be ready for the challenge at hand.

“I try to share my part, give my part,” McBean said. “But these guys, they come here to work. All they’ve got to do is just watch tape and it shows for itself.”

While the offense has been focused on game planning for Pittsburgh’s physical defensive unit, McBean and his defenisve teammates have been busy this week preparing for Ben Roethlisberger and the Steelers’ hardnosed offensive attack.

From rushing Roethlisberger for two years — whether it be during training camp or in-season practice sessions — McBean knows the challenges Roethlisberger presents for a defensive front. His agility and strength make him one of the most difficult quarterbacks in the league to take down, according to McBean.

McBean said it is imperative that that the defensive unit keeps Roethlisberger in the pocket, as he is known for doing plenty of damage once he gets outside of the tight end box. Some say Roethlisberger is more susceptible to sacks because he is known for holding the ball for an extended period of time.

But McBean knows recording a sack on Roethlisberger is easier said than done.

“Roethlisberger, he shakes off a lot of guys, a lot of tackles,” he said. “When we get there, we’ve got to not just wrap him up. We’ve got to gang-wrap him up. We’ve got to bring him down because numerous times, guys think they have him and he just shakes them off and continues out of the pocket. We’ve just got to gang pack him and bring him down.”

While some players may try downplaying going up against their former team, McBean admitted than taking on the Steelers on Monday Night Football in Week 9 means something extra to him. He made his NFL debut in Pittsburgh’s 2007 regular season finale at Baltimore.

“Those are the guys, they drafted me,” McBean said. “They gave me an opportunity to be where I am today. It will be great for me to go back and see some of my old teammates and try to beat some of my old teammates.”

INJURY REPORT

Three Broncos did not participate in Thursday’s practice session — Josh Barrett (hamstring), Ryan Harris (toe) and Ryan McBean (knee). David Bruton (groin) and Jack Williams (illness) were limited participants.

For the Steelers, DE Travis Kirschke (calf) and LB Lawrence Timmons (ankle) did not partcipate in Thursday’s practice session.

– Zach Eisendrath, DenverBroncos.com

Here are some pictures from the onset of Thursday afternoon’s practice session:

One of the things that happens when you have seen a lot of games is that one thought connects to a memory, and another, and another.

Today we had a weekly staff meeting, and I was sitting a couple of chairs away from Billy Thompson, who now handles all the alumni affairs for the team but who in his previous life was a three-time Pro Bowl performer who set the all-time Broncos record for turnovers with 61 (40 interceptions, 21 fumble recoveries).

In fact, he returned four of those fumbles for scores and was around the ball seemingly as much as any Bronco defender in history.

Anyway, as we play the Steelers this week, my mind drifted a bit to one of the greatest games in team history.

As many people might know, there was a time when overtime did not exist in the National Football League. If it ended in a tie, it was a tie. Game over.

The teams voted in their 1974 spring meeting to make overtime part of the game, and there was casual conversation as to when that first overtime would take place.

It turned out to be in Denver, and I was fortunate to be in the stands for that one — with my wife, no less — amazing in itself, because due to my work with the Broncos I have not watched a game with her from our seats for 32 years!

The Broncos and Steelers fought a classic struggle on September 22, 1974, with the Steelers’ “Jefferson Street Joe” Gilliam completing 31 of 50 for 348 yards and leading Pittsburgh to 33 first downs in the game.

Denver countered with an offensive attack led by Charley Johnson and Steve Ramsey, who combined for four touchdown passes, two each, with the first and last Denver scores of the day touchdown receptions by running back Otis Armstrong, the first a 45-yard reception from Johnson and the last the final score of the game, a 23-yard pass and run from Ramsey.

That score made it 35-35 late in the fourth quarter, but Pittsburgh got its final possession of regulation with 52 seconds left and moved to the Denver eight with just five seconds remaining.

I remember how nervous my wife and I were as we watched what would surely be a chip-shot field goal by Pittsburgh’s Roy Gerela.

But this was a great game, and great things sometimes happen in games like that, often plays made by the home team before raucous crows like that one was.

Gerela made a fine kick, but Billy Thompson got penetration and blocked the kick as time expired to set up the NFL’s first overtime game.

And on this day, overtime, created to guarantee a winner, produced no winner.

Neither team could score and the game ended in that 35-35 tie. A true classic.

And in this Pittsburgh week, that’s one of the thoughts that bounced out of the recesses of my mind, as I sat near Billy in that staff meeting.

The last time Carlton Powell suited up for the Broncos, the defense turned in the type of performance it had been craving all preseason.

The Broncos shut out the Cardinals in the exhibition finale, 19-0, at INVESCO Field at Mile High. Seven games later, Denver is 6-1 and its defense leads the NFL in yards allowed per game (266.7).

Back in orange and blue after being signed to the practice squad on Tuesday, those totals were no shock to Powell.

“I’m not surprised at all, from the work ethic everybody had put in during training camp and the type of scheme that we’re running now,” he said. “I kind of expected this and I’m definitely glad to be back and be a part of it.”

While Powell had grown accustomed to working with teammates and coaches over the course of training camp, Lance Ball’s transition has been more of a whirlwind.

After three weeks on Tennessee’s practice squad, Ball was also signed Denver’s practice squad on Tuesday. He spent his rookie season with Darrell Reid as a member of the Indianapolis Colts, and was also friends with Eddie Royal prior to the move.

Having those familiar faces helped smooth the transition into Wednesday’s practice session.

“Guys have been totally welcoming, from the first time I stepped off the plane,” Ball said. “I know a couple of guys here so I was kind of able to fit in a little bit.”

On the field, Ball’s fitting-in process will be aided by having a renowned running backs coach by his side. The second-year back said he’s looking forward to working with Bobby Turner, whose unit has produced 862 rushing yards over the first seven games.

“He’s a great guy who’s very energetic,” Ball said. “I’m just starting to get to know him, but the first impression was great.”

ON A LIGHTER NOTE…

A power outage at Dove Valley this morning did not stop the club from its preparations for Monday night’s contest with the Pittsburgh Steelers. The lights returned in time for the majority of Wednesday’s press conferences and locker room interviews.

The only effect it had was making for some dark interviews. Brandon Stokley was one of those, and when asked if he had any ghost stories to tell, he bridled at the post-Halloween power problems.

“I don’t believe in them,” he laughed.

Here are some more photos from the start of Wednesday’s practice.

– Chris Gentilviso, DenverBroncos.com

The Broncos on Tuesday announced several roster moves involving the practice squad.

Running back Lance Ball was added to the practice squad, and the club’s second 2008 fifth-round pick, Carlton Powell, was added to the practice squad as well.

In addition, Darius Walker was waived from the practice squad, and Everette Pedescleaux was placed on the practice squad/injured list.

Ball is a second-year player who appeared in one game for the Indianapolis Colts in 2008 as a reserve running back. He rushed 13 times for 83 yards and caught one pass for five yards in his first NFL appearance versus the Tennessee Titans. He was a three-year letterman who started 19 of 41 career games at the University of Maryland, and was originally signed by the St. Louis Rams as an undrafted free agent before the 2008 season.

Powell is a second-year player who spent his rookie season on the reserve/physically unable to perform list after injuring his Achilles tendon in the offseason. He started 13 games in each of his final two seasons at Virginia Tech University, helping the Hokies rank no worse than fourth in the nation in both total yards per game and points per game allowed during those years. He had career highs in tackles — 39 — and sacks — 3.5 — as a senior in 2007.

-Gray Caldwell, DenverBroncos.com

Brandon Marshall will be spending this Tuesday honing his comedy chops on television.

The receiver is taking over the hosting duties for one episode of Sports Soup — a show that is described as “an irreverant look at the state of sports and the people who play and report on them.”

The show plays clips from the world of sports — even pulling from pre- and post-game shows, press conferences and local media — and the host makes witty comments in between highlights.

The host is typically Matt Iseman, who was actually born in Denver, and the comedian said in a press release that he is honored to have Marshall take over his hosting duties for Tuesday’s show.

“I’m excited to have Brandon Marshall guest host Sports Soup — it’s not every day you get a Pro Bowl receiver filling in for you,” Iseman said. “Plus, he promised to return the favor and let me start the next time the Broncos play the Raiders. He thinks I should be good for at least a couple of touchdowns.”

The episode airs tonight at 8 p.m. MST on VERSUS, which according to the station’s Web site is channel 73 for Comcast subscribers in the Denver area.

Check your local listings and then check out Marshall testing out his comedy on VERSUS tonight!

-Gray Caldwell, DenverBroncos.com

The Denver Broncos finally dropped a game Sunday, to an always tough Baltimore Ravens team that, in this case, came into the game with three straight losses and was desperately in need of a win.

Denver remains in good shape with a 6-1 record following the loss, which was a tough defensive struggle that at halftime saw the Broncos trailing by just a 6-0 score. The ravens returned the second half kickoff for a touchdown and slowly pulled away after that.

With that loss, Denver Head Coach Josh McDaniels fell one victory short of becoming just the second or third (and we’ll explain) first year head coach to start off his coaching career with seven consecutive wins.

Potsy Clark won eight straight to begin his coaching career with the Portsmouth Spartans in 1931—the Portsmouth Spartans became the Detroit Lions in the modern National Football League.

But Potsy too had a predecessor for this title, albeit one with a couple of caveats attached to his resume.

In 1920, the absolute very first year of an organized professional football league, Barney Lepper was the head coach of the Buffalo All-Americans, who won their first eight games before finishing 9-1-1 for third place, behind the Decatur Staleys (10-1-2) and the league champion Akron Pros (8-3). But maybe Lepper was not a rookie head coach that year.

In checking with the Elias Sports Bureau, the official statistician of the NFL, they believe that Lepper might have coached some team, some place, in the ragtag world of pro football before the game became organized as the NFL.

Either way, this 6-0 start goes back a long way. Any time you are talking about a team that competed with the Muncie Flyers, Tonawanda Kardex, Columbus Panhandles and Rock Island Independents, to name just a few of the very colorfully named early teams, you are talking about the Mayflower of pro football.

Josh McDaniels hails from Canton, Ohio, as most fans know by now, so it seems very fitting that a new coach who comes from the cradle of football would have flirted with a record set as far back as the game can be traced.

By the way, the Spartans played in Portsmouth for four years before relocating to Detroit and becoming the Lions in 1934.

Meanwhile, the game goes on, and it will again for the Broncos. Denver has won six American Football Conference championships and two Super Bowls, but the Broncos have never gone undefeated. And they did not figure to this year as well.

Don’t labor about one loss.

So the message to our fans is to focus on the task at hand, which is this week’s game against the Pittsburgh Steelers.

That’s an attitude that likely would have made Potsy proud.

Speaking with the media on Monday morning from Dove Valley, Head Coach Josh McDaniels said that starting tackle Ryan Harris will not be available for Week 9’s Monday Night Football matchup with the defending Super Bowl-champion Pittsburgh Steelers.

“I don’t know the whole entire prognosis,” McDaniels said. “I am meeting with Greek (Head Athletic Trainer Steve Antonopulos) here as soon as this is over, but he will not play this week.”

Harris left Sunday’s 30-7 loss to Baltimore in the first quarter with a toe injury. He was replaced for the remainder of the game by Tyler Polumbus.

Facing an aggressive front seven — and matched up against the talented Terrell Suggs on more than a few occasions — Polumbus more than held his own. McDaniels said he was happy with how Polumbus handled himself against both bull rushers and speed rushers.

“Tyler has been in the system now as long as anybody else has this year, so he is familiar with what we are doing,” McDaniels said. “We are always giving him plenty of reps in practice. He handled himself well in the preseason, and we will expect him to go in and play well (against Pittsburgh).”

Kyle Orton agreed that Polumbus filled in effectively against the Ravens. Even with the change at tackle, Baltimore only managed one sack over the final three quarters of play.

“He played fine,” Orton said. “He came in and did his job.”

– Zach Eisendrath, DenverBroncos.com

Coach McDaniels said it best after the game. They’re a good football team and you can’t play poorly on the road against a good football team.

Both lines of scrimmage were dominated by the Ravens. I’ve always been told, “give credit, where credit is due.” They earned it. Our crew had dominated that sacred ground up until this Sunday. That’s really where the game is won when you really pay attention. No one knows or understands when you win because all ESPN, FOX and the rest of the TV shows share, are highlights.

Highlights: High flying catches, diving catches, great runs from scrimmage, dipping and dodging. Never the blocks that sprung them or the line of scrimmage being pushed back during the running plays or at the goal line and the amount of time Kyle Orton has to go to his third or fourth read.

I’ve been caught up in it too, so no offense to anyone. I’m as guilty as anyone. I’ve been taking the line of scrimmage for granted for seven weeks. It was easy…we dominated.

I won’t call the Ravens the birds, the black birds, etc, because they are due the respect they earned by whooping our tails. That’s a good group in Baltimore and they probably make the playoffs if they keep playing like that. I was impressed. I knew it would be hard fought but didn’t think it would be that lopsided.

First half was a stalemate, second half kickoff return was a nail in the coffin. Whew. Don’t even need to look at the stats on this one … it was (all telling) during the game.

So what do you do? Get up, dust off and get the film behind you and learn from the mistakes because Pittsburgh will be watching the same film and will be ready for Monday Night Football.

And yes the (obnoxious Cowboys) neighbor kept texting me during the game asking me the score and asking if I was alright, etc. He’s been waiting seven weeks to do that and I had to admit it was pretty funny for all the grief I’ve been giving him about the Cowboys and their loss to us earlier (yes Bill, LOSS to us earlier) :o)

One good thing I thought of while the game was going on … I thought we’d still make a comeback. Yep, that’s a good thing because we have the talent to do it and it’s a long season and I didn’t think we’d go undefeated. There’s a lot of good teams out there. One game at a time and win in the trenches is really the name of the game. Learn from mistakes and press on!!

GO BRONCOS!!