Two Tickets to Paradise: Conference Championship Day

[vtbub]

I was beat by a few seconds in posting the AFC Preview. Troy's is on the blog, mine is here:

They will play today the 46^th American Football Conference Championship game today in Denver. The Broncos are slight 3-point favorites over the highest remaining seed ever to advance to the title game, the Pittsburgh Steelers. If the Steelers win and advance to Super Bowl 40, they will be the second team in the post-merger era to win three straight playoff games on the road, the other being the 1985 New England Patriots.



By now, you should all be familiar about these teams. Denver possesses a strong dual force offense anchored by one of the great offensive lines in the ‘00’s. Jake Plummer can beat you in the air, while Mike Anderson and Tatum Bell will beat you on the ground. The much maligned Denver defense rose to the occasion last Saturday by forcing the Patriots into uncharacteristic turnovers and blitzing Tom Brady into a mass ball of confusion.


Pittsburgh came in to their game at Indianapolis as mass underdogs and emerged as victors. The new version of the Steel Curtain turned Peyton Manning into his brother Eli as the secondary blanketed Indy receivers like a mother does to a newborn and gave Manning no time to find anybody with a pass rush that was perfect. Ben Roethlisberger found the time to throw a solid game, freeing Willie Parker and Jerome Bettis to take chunks of time and yards off the clock and down the field.

If the Steelers are to win today, they must do exactly what they did last week in a road situation that will be more hostile then in Indy.

• No Turnovers or False Starts. Denver is too good to be giving any sort of short field advantage too. Pittsburgh turned it over twice last weekend, but survived as the Colts played an extremely sloppy game. They cannot expect Denver to be as unprepared as Indy was a week ago.

• Make the Defense Honest. This nearly killed the Steelers in the late stages last week as the Colts were playing nine or ten men on the line of scrimmage and Pittsburgh continued to pound the ball. They must do a better job in mixing up the offense, unlike New England who could only pass.

• Run, Run, Run. The team that passes the least, wins the game. Pittsburgh’s offense is certainly set up to grind it out. Parker has extremely quick speed once he accelerates through the block. If he chews up 4.6 a carry or better, it will be an extremely long day for the Broncos.

• Force Jake Plummer to Beat You. While Plummer has had a fantastic year, and had 3.5 super quarters last weekend, it is still uncertain if he could beat you by himself if need be. If Pittsburgh can somehow shut down Denver’s running game and force Plummer to throw over 32 times, then they have a great shot at a trip to Detroit.

Denver's unlikely road to Ford Field will be a bit easier than Pittsburgh's, but not by much


1.Score First. The Mile High Magic returned to the Broncos this season and if the can keep the crowd loud, it should help keep the Steelers off-balance. Pittsburgh never played from behind last weekend, Denver has to have that happen today. It’s called home field advantage for a reason.


2.Relax Jake. This will be a learning experience for the Broncos quarterback. If the running game does their job, Plummer will feel confident to do his. Denver needs the same kind of team effort they had against New England to beat Pittsburgh. If Denver can have most of their 3^rd down situations at five yards or less, that will give Plummer a much more comfortable play call and the ability to run if needed.

3.For God Sakes, BLOCK! The offensive line must give the feature players the ability to run the plays. You saw last weekend what happens to the best of quarterbacks get hurried and flushed. Plummer is not in that stage of his career yet, although a win today certainly puts him closer. If we see a lot of white shirts two seconds after the snap behind the line of scrimmage, Denver is in deep doo-doo. The blue shirts win that battle and Denver wins with ease.

4.No Looking Forward. Denver must be prepared for what happens today and not the prize in two weeks. They must quickly adapt if Pittsburgh gets the upper hand early. Their game needs flexibility, something that burned the Colts and Bears last weekend. If behind, this team is not out of it. They need to keep the morale high, which considering that this home game is a gift, should not be a problem.


The bottom line is that Denver must adjust to Pittsburgh’s two-dimensional offensive attack. The Steelers can beat you on the ground and can hurt you in the air. Denver must neutralize both. Pittsburgh must adjust to a team that will be razor sharp. In reality, they beat the better quarterback last weekend, while the Colts abandoned the run and short pass early. Denver will not be unprepared and Pittsburgh must make Jake Plummer beat them.


It’s a tough game either way, but the home field is huge. Denver 23-21.

[RendeR]

wow, can you edit that please? it hurts the eyes to even look at it and is impossible to read.

[vtbub]

done

[astrosfan64]

good write up VTbub.