Strange to see Pittsburgh, whom many have selected to go to the Super Bowl, have to play on the road at Denver, which is thought to be the weakest of playoff teams. As we saw last year, when, despite a losing record in the regular season, Seattle beat New Orleans in the playoffs, home field can have a big effect in the playoffs. And playing at Denver is usually difficult for any team.
All that said, it is unlikely Denver can put up enough points to win a playoff game against a team with a good defense. It is helpful, however, to Denver’s chances that Pittsburgh has suffered injuries to its QB, Ben Roethlisberger (ankle), and RB Rashard Mendenhall, who is done for the year. Plus Denver has a good defense of its own. So, Denver will likely be able to limit the Steelers’ offense, but without much firepower on the Denver side, a low-scoring game might only keep Denver “in it” rather than giving them a great chance to win it. To keep in the game, Denver must keep Pittsburgh’s offense off the field by maintaining the type of long drives that Tebow has not usually been able to sustain.
With Tebow, anything can happen, but Denver would need an awful lot of breaks, literally and figuratively, to win this one.
Pittsburgh 23, Denver 13.
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