Unqualified Offerings

1. Game starts off O-kay for both teams. Denver picks up a couple of first downs on their opening drive, which is always a confidence-builder. Pittsburgh digs out of a hole at their own 9 and gets far enough to kick a field goal. Pittsburgh gets, by my count, three breaks – a successful replay challenge and two near-interceptions that become a completion and an incomplete pass instead. Big Ben is looking a little more like the Roethlisberger of last year’s playoffs than I’d like.

2. w00t! Sack, fumble, Pittsburgh recovery!

3. Pittsburgh better be able to throw, because they’re not getting any success running so far.

4. Second quarter starts. This play could really – Oboy! Touchdown! Up 10 points after a quarter of play on the road – very nice setup.

5. Right after the TD: Shanahan is not stupid. He’ll keep running the ball because, unlike two-thirds of the coaches in the NFL, he understands that a mere 10-point deficit early in the game is no reason to go to the hurry-up.

6. Same drive: my god, look at Polumalu split the block. And Denver goes for it on fourth down like a real team and gets it.

7. Drive ends with field goal. 10-3. UO counsels the Steelers against putting any more kickoffs out of bounds so Denver can start drives at the 40.

8. Announcer speak would say that Denver “is saying, we’re not going to let you beat us on the ground; you’ll have to beat us through the air.” Eight men in the box and yada yada yada. So far at least, Pittsburgh is in fact beating Denver through the air. Ben doesn’t look as bad as last winter, but not as good as last week either. Still, it serves, so far.

9. Time out with 2:14 to go in the half. Denver holds Pitt to a field goal they have a chance. Pittsburgh gets a TD and it augurs a Pittsburgh victory.

10. Jerome Bettis, ladies and gentlemen! Touchdown!

Still plenty of Broncos around the line of scrimmage on a rush, but good enough blocking to keep Denver’s defenders on their own side of the line.

Now Denver has the ball at their own twenty – interception! Plummer hangs it up in zone coverage.

11. Argh! Clever blitz-beater draw ruined by a formation penalty. Was a damn touchdown too.

12. Touchdown! Game over. (IMHO.) Maybe this really is our year. Sorry, Walter.

13. Halftime! 24-3. And that means the halftime yakfest. My job: to tell you whatever I think they don’t say but should.

UPDATE: We interrupt this football-blogging to report that CSI: Miami’s next episode will revolve around “an employee blog.” If that doesn’t sound like the last word in viewing excitement I don’t know what does.

14. Halftime show: Surprisingly, Dan Marino makes the point I’d have made – aside from some draw plays on the last drive, Pittsburgh hasn’t been able to run the ball. Will they be able to run in the second half? If Denver can keep choking off the run, Pittsburgh will still have to pass. Not that that’s been a problem for them. Marino says Denver needs to throw exclusively to “try and get back in this game,” though, which strikes me as terrible advice. Denver shouldn’t give up the run for at least another quarter. They need to be within one score and have the ball by the two-minute warning. That’s a lot of time. Stupid coaches fail to recognize this. Cowher and Shanahan have had the success they’ve had because they’re not stupid.

Sill, as Shannon Sharpe notes, if Denver can’t get Pittsburgh to punt a couple of times (or turn over the ball) it doesn’t matter what the Bronco’s do on offense.

15. Steelers start the second half throwing. Never take your foot off the gas until it’s the fourth quarter and have a three-touchdown lead. I learned that from Mike Holmgren.

Pittsburgh tries to run on second down, fails.

16. Aw. Don’t anger the football gods! 4th & 3 at th opponent 35 you go for it!

Oh well, the gamble maybe pays off, with a punt downed at the Denver 2. Still, wimpy for this game.

17. Wow. Denver lost as much as they could lose on that series without incurring a safety.

Meanwhile, the Steeler running game is now averaging a whopping three yards a carry.

Dang. Another Denver stop on third down. Pittsburgh’s going to punt again? Whatever.

18. Beautiful punt coverage, downing the ball at the four with an athetic effort. Last time, Denver tried the counter-intuitive approach of three straight passes from their own goal line. I suppose it was worth trying once, but I don’t think it makes much sense to try it again. All Denver has to do is score a touchdown by the end of this quarter and it’s only a 14-point game.

And now Denver challenges the spot and it’s overturned. Based on the replays, this is a perfectly reasonable call. That’s why punting from fourth-and-reasonable inside your opponent’s 40 is a loser move.

19. Quick drive, Denver touchdown. All because Pittsburgh’s offense took their foot off the gas too soon. Now the two questions are: Can Pittsburgh rev up the engine again? Will the altitude effect start to tell on the Steelers as we move into the fourth quarter.

I want a three-touchdown lead before Denver gets the ball for the first time in the fourth-quarter, dammit. Anything else is playing with fire.

20. Third quarter ends, Pittsburgh driving. They still can’t run more than three yards at a time. Ben Roethlisberger is winning this game by passing and the line with excellent pass-blocking.

I want that touchdown!

21. Oh the irony! Pittsburgh gets too cute and the protection breaks down. Field goal, though – a three-score game heading into the fourth. Pittsburgh should be able to at least move the ball through the air all game if necessary. That means they can pick up first downs more times than not, and that means they win.

22. Gack! What the hell was that runback??? Let’s not make – never mind. Interception by Plummer.

Pittsburgh isn’t even faking the blitz and backing off like they did against Indy. They’re just lining up with five guys on the line like most teams most plays and rushing four guys like most teams most plays. Plummer’s got no excuse.

23. Now we get some real announcer stupidity: Enberg and Simms talking about how now Pittsburgh can just run the ball. As if they’d been able to run the ball the entire afternoon!

24. Bwahaha! Denver has first and ten on their own 15 now. Statistically a turnover is worth on average about 45 yards of field position. That one came in almost exactly at the average.

25. Touchdown, Denver. Sloppy tackling by Pittsburgh and lax discipline, plus a lot of athletic plays by Plummer. The Steelers are making this way too interesting. They need some first downs and they can only get that if they pass – they haven’t been able to run all day. Do Cowher and offensive coordinator Ken Wisenhunt know that?

Yes, but almost picked off. Then a rushing attempt that goes nowhere.

26. Bronco ball with 6:20 left. IF Denver wins it will be because they kept Pittsburgh from running all game and Pittsburgh let them back in the game by getting conservative on fourth-and-short in the third quarter.

27. Sack. Pittsburgh doesn’t blitz nearly as often as people think. That time theyd did and it worked. Follow it up with a three-man rush that gets to Plummer anyway. Pittsburgh ball. Huge.

Now they can run even though they can’t run.

28. Bettis goes 11 yards in two plays. NOW they can run. First down on the Denver 6 with 4:30 to go.

29. Big Ben on the bootleg, touchdown! Beautiful call, beautiful execution, beautiful game.

30. :46 to go. One regret, that Ben won’t get to take the Knee of Victory, thanks to that last Denver first down.

0:00. And that’s it. I love this team!

UPDATE: You call that liveblogging, John Cole???? Phooey!

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