Sunday Night Football: Pittsburgh vs. Denver

August 29, 2010

Two of the top defenses from a year ago go head to head Sunday night. The Pittsburgh Steelers and the Denver Broncos ranked amongst the league leaders in total defense last season, but neither of them were able to make the playoffs. Both the Broncos and Steelers will look to take their games to the next level this year. Defense is clearly the focal point for both teams as they used several picks in the NFL draft to maintain the defensive excellence that they have sustained throughout the last decade.

Denver is in need of consistency. After the first 6 games of the 2009 season, most NFL experts including myself felt as though they were the real deal, and that making the playoff was a given. Little did we know that their offense would implode, and that their defense would sink to the level that it did. They gave up almost 26 points per game over the last 10 games of the season after allowing just 11 through their first 6 games. Denver’s rushing defense was torched for the majority of the second half last year, and that was due to a weak defensive line. They had a few injuries, but that shouldn’t have accounted for the major decline.

Offensively they will need to pick up their passing attack as Kyle Orton will need to take his game to a new level in order to for the Broncos to stay competitive. Orton is far too inconsistent, and will need to cut down on the turnovers this season. He has the capability to lead a team, but he’s not a pure passer that has the ability to shred defenses with his passing ability.

The running game for Denver seems to be in good hands as Knowshon Moreno has taken over the started job from Correll Buckhalter and literally ran with it!. He rushed for 947 yards on only 247 attempts in 2009. Expect a much better season for Moreno as he has the ability to elude tacklers as well as fight for extra yardage. He may be a solid 3rd or 4th round selection for many fantasy football players as he crosses the 1000 yard barrier with ease. I anticipate that they Broncos finish right around were most football handicappers expect. Eight to nine wins will be the max for this squad due to an extremely difficult schedule.

Pittsburgh will need to get off to a good start without the services on starting quarterback Ben Roethlisberger. Roethlisberger has a tremendous year in 2009. He passed for 4328 yards and 26 touchdowns to only 12 interceptions. His quarterback rating was over 100, and he completed 66.6 percent of his passes. Big Ben will be out for at least the first 4 games of the season because of his off-season issues. The Steelers fate may be in the hands of backup Byron Leftwich. Leftwich has been a journeyman since his days in Jacksonville, but is still capable of leading an offense. Dennis Dixon has tremendous speed at the quarterback position, but doesn’t have a good enough feel for the game. He may be brought in for certain situations, but expect Leftwich to have the starting job until Roethlisberger returns.

The running game is average, but with this top 5 defense should be more than enough to keep Pittsburgh in most games. Rashard Mendenhall will have a breakthrough season in 2010. He had just 7 carries in the first 3 games last season, but still ended the season with 1108 yards and 7 touchdowns. His 4.6 yards per carry is more than enough to show that he has what it takes to be a good running back in this league for years to come.

Although Santonio Holmes is gone, the Pittsburgh’s receiving group is in better shape than they have been in years. The addition of Antwaan Randle El more than makes up for Holmes’ departure. Hines Ward is always a go-to receiver that can make big catches at crucial times. Tight end Heath Miller has turned out to be one of the best ends in the league, and will have another great year in 2010.

This will be a defensive battle. Both teams may be looking to see where they are at offensively, but their defenses are priority #1. Tune in Sunday night as Pittsburgh and Denver crank up the intensity in week 3 of the NFL pre-season.

Written by Glenn Andrew · Filed Under NFL

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