Denver’s offense finally woke up in Pittsburgh, Sunday afternoon. But then, for the third straight week, that phase of the football team fell asleep after halftime and the Denver Broncos lost 34-27 to the Pittsburgh Steelers.
To start, though, it was much of the same. Ronnie Hillman fumbled the football and the Steelers turned that great field position into a touchdown with the 7-0 lead. But the Broncos offense answered back early and often. First, Brock Osweiler led an 85-yard touchdown drive, capped with an 18-yard pass to Demaryius Thomas in the end zone to tie it up at 7-7. Then, Osweiler connected with Emmanuel Sanders for a way-too-easy 61-yard touchdown pass when the Steelers sent an all-out blitz and left No. 10 wide open.
To start the second quarter, Osweiler continued his sharp passing and took a ball into the end zone himself on the ground seven yards for the 20-7 lead after Brandon McManus missed an extra point. Pittsburgh answered with an impressive 10-play drive of their own, but it fell short when the Denver defense stiffened up – Shaquil Barrett blocked the field goal – but it still went in to bring the game to 20-10, Broncos. As the second quarter ticked away, Osweiler led his Broncos offense on another touchdown drive, this one of 80 yards, to take a 17-point lead. But just before half, Ben Roethlisberger pushed his team into field goal range and it was 27-13 Denver at halftime.
In the third quarter, Denver’s momentum came to a crashing halt when they had to punt almost immediately after catching the second half’s opening kick. Pittsburgh turned that punt into a touchdown, from Roethlisberger to Antonio Brown nine yards to bring the game to 27-20, Broncos. Denver had to punt four times in a row to start the second half, but the defense kept making plays. Then, they stopped making tackles. Markus Wheaton caught a nine-yard TD from Big Ben, walking in, to tie the game up at 27-27 with 12:37 to play.
For a fifth straight time after the break, the Broncos couldn’t convert on third down and had to punt back to a fired-up Pittsburgh team. On Denver’s next offensive drive, Osweiler escaped a sack but threw an interception which Roesthlisberger threw to Brown for the score and the 34-27 lead. Denver failed to score in an answer despite getting the ball into Steelers territory for the first time all half and all Pittsburgh had to do was run out 2:14 of game clock. Instead, Roethlisberger threw an interception, stolen by Brandon Marshall, with 2:01 to play. But, Denver couldn’t gain one, single yard and ended up losing the game 34-27.
STAR OF THE GAME
Emmanuel Sanders lit the world on fire, Sunday night, he was everywhere all night long. Sanders caught nine passes for 168 yards including his 61-yard touchdown from Osweiler in the first quarter.
PLAY OF THE GAME
With only 2:08 to play, Roethlisberger dropped back, rolled left and threw the ball out to the flat but behind his intended receiver, where linebacker Brandon Marshall made an incredible play and picked off the pass. It gave the Broncos the ball at the Steelers 41 yard line but the offense couldn’t gain a yard and eventually squandered the opportunity.
TURNING POINT
The turning point came just after halftime, when the Steelers defense stepped up their game. Vernon Davis was called for a holding penalty, which moved the team into a 1st and 20 situation, which quickly turned into a 3rd and 20 and then a punt. Including their half-ending field goal, the Steelers scored 24 straight points to take the 34-27 lead with 3:24 to play.
BY THE NUMBERS
Denver went a perfect 8-8 on third downs during the first half. They also put up 295 total yards in that first half, while scoring 27 points. That perfect 8-8 streak ended just after the first half, when Britton Colquitt was asked to punt for the first time all day. That turned into 0-6 on third downs to start the second half, a complete flip-flop from earlier in the game.
Brock Osweiler is throwing 🔥 in Pittsburgh. #DENvsPIT pic.twitter.com/5XtAhdEWpE
— NFL (@NFL) December 20, 2015
Osweiler finished going 21-44 for 296 yards with three touchdowns and one interception.
The Steelers ended the game with 354 yards passing, 189 of which went to Antonio Brown.
Denver’s first touchdown of the day ended a drought lasting 24 drives worth of time without a touchdown.
67,234 was the official attendance at the game, a new Heinz Field record.
LASTING IMPACT
For the third straight week, the Broncos were unable to score a single point in the second half as they didn’t make the necessary adjustments on either side of the ball. It’s the second straight loss for Denver, who now sit at 10-4 overall and are only one game ahead of the Kansas City Chiefs for the lead in the AFC West division.
WHAT’S NEXT
Up next for the Broncos is a Monday Night contest against the Cincinnati Bengals. That game kicks off at 6:30 p.m. MT on Monday, Dec 28.
