STEELERS VS. BRONCOS PREVIEW (AFC CONFERENCE CHAMPIONSHIP)
by Bob Acton of
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When teams get a shot at going to the Super Bowlit is very important that they take advantage of the opportunityas sometimes it is a long time between sips shall we say. Backin Super Bowl XV11 in 1983 the Dolphins lost to the Redskins andtheir starting quarterback was no-name David Woodley. He was 4-14for a pathetic 81 yards of net passing and needless to say theylost.
In 1985 Super Bowl X1X Dan Marino barely legal drinking age,took his explosive offensive machine to the big game for whatwas to be the first of many experiences. It ended up being hislast and they were crushed 38-16 by San Francisco. While Marinowould set all kinds of records and end up in the Hall of Fame,Marino never made it back to the dance.
This Sunday Steelers coach Bill Cowher will try and advanceto Detroit with a victory over the Broncos and while he has wonmany games with Pittsburgh, the last Super Bowl he coached inwas 1995 and Cowher, whose team is the first No. 6 seed to reacha league championship game, is trying to become the first sincethe 1985 Patriots to win three road games to reach the Super Bowl.
Speaking of the Broncos they won back to back titles in 1998and 1999 and then John Elway decided to go mountain climbing.Since then they have struggled to find the right formula and theyjust might do it with underrated Jake Plummer at the helm.
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The Steelers put constant pressure on Manningand sacked him five times. In the first two rounds, Pittsburghhas held the AFC's top scoring teams, Cincinnati and Indianapolis,to 17 and 18 points, but Plummer is not a statue like Plummer,so don’t expect the same result.
Sunday's victory gave Pittsburgh five consecutivevictories over Indianapolis in the postseason, but the Steelerswill be facing a Denver club that has won 11 in a row at InvescoField at Mile High, is 4-0 in AFC title games at home and is comingoff a 27-13 victory over two-time defending champion New Englandlast week.
The Steelers, meanwhile, are 1-4 in league championshipgames under Cowher, and they'll face a Denver team that's equallymotivated to return to the Super Bowl for the first time since1998.
Denver has won three of the five postseason matchupswith Pittsburgh and two of the three playoff meetings at MileHigh. The Broncos won the last meeting 24-21 at Denver in theAFC title game on Jan. 11, 1998.
Roethlisberger is 13-1 on the road in his career,including the playoffs. ... Pittsburgh allowed only eight TDson the road during the regular season, fewest in the NFL. ...Roethlisberger is the first QB since 1970 to start back-to-backleague championship games in his first two seasons. Broncos -Plummer has the second-highest postseason completion percentage(62.3) among active players with at least 100 attempts. ... Denver'sdefense has allowed only 50 points during the team's current five-gamewinning streak. ... WR Smith has a TD catch in each of his lastthree postseason games and three TDs in three career games againstthe Steelers, including the playoffs.
ROAD/HOMERECORDS: Steelers - 8-2 on the road; Broncos - 9-0 athome.
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