NFL Playoff Preview: Pittsburgh Steelers vs Denver Broncos
Written By David Hess (Follow me on Twitter @DavidHess311)
When: 4:40 PM ET, Sunday, January 17, 2016
Where: Sports Authority Field at Mile High in Denver, Colorado
Lines: Denver -7.5
Total: 41
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The Pittsburgh Steelers had a slow start to their year, but they come in having won 7 of their last 9 games, including last week’s penalty fest vs the Bengals. The Steelers really struggled on offense vs a tough Bengals defense and they could have similar problems in this one, especially since they will be without their big play threat, WR Antonio Brown, who caught 136 passes for 1834 yards this year and that will be tough to replace. Not only is Brown out, but so is #1 RB Deangelo Williams. Yes the Steelers still have LeVeon Bell at RB and Markus Wheaton at WR, but still this is a weakened offense. Pittsburgh also has a beaten up Roethlisberger as well and this offense will be facing the top defense in the league. It could be a struggle for them to score. Defensively the Steelers have not been great, especially vs the pass, where they rank 30th in the league. They are 11th in points allowed, but still it is not a defense that comes close to the caliber of the Broncos
Speaking of Denver, they had another solid year as they went 12-4 overall and won the #1 seed in the AFC in the process. Peyton is just 2-2 in the playoffs when the team he is playing for has the number 1 seed. For the Broncos they won the #1 seed despite the fact that Peyton missed a bunch of time. Well he is back and had some extra time to prepare for this Steelers defense that is beat up and has struggled vs the pass this year. The Broncos do have some offensive weapons, like Thomas and Sanders, plus a solid running game led by the duo of Ronnie Hillman and CJ Anderson, who combined for 1583 yards and 12 TDs this year. The running game should really open up throwing lanes for Manning. Overall the offense has been very average this year, but it hasn’t been their offense that has led them. It has been a defense that ranks 1st in yards allowed, 1st vs the pass, 3rd vs the run and 4th in points allowed, giving up just 18.5 ppg.
Free NFL Playoff Play
[308] Denver -7.5 over Pittsburgh
The Broncos are the play here. The Steelers are beat up and they come off an awful offensive showing vs the Bengals. They will miss Brown and Williams here and Pittsburgh just doesn’t have enough weapons to cover the losses, especially vs the league’s top rated defense. The Broncos do have a huge edge on that side of the ball, especially at Mile High where they have allowed just 247 ypg and 18.5 ppg on the year. On offense the Broncos have not been that good, but I see Peyton having a huge game here as he is tired of hearing that he is done. The Steelers are 0-3-1 ATS in their last 4 playoff road games and 1-5 ATS in their last 6 games in this series. Bottom line here is that the Steelers just won’t come up with enough offense to win or even keep this one close.
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