You have to beat the best to be the best, that’s what they say.

On Monday afternoon, the Broncos began preparations for the Pittsburgh Steelers and while arguably their two best players are nursing injuries in Ben Roethlisberger and Antonio Brown, one of the Broncos who will have to deal with those two said he hopes they play.

“Ben will be there, A.B. will be there, we want those guys to be there,” said cornerback Aqib Talib. “If we didn’t want them to be there, that means I’d want A.B. to be messed up. That’s a good dude, a good family dude. We don’t want him to be messed up. As long as he’s good, he’ll be there.”

That being said, Talib understands the challenge they present, especially Brown.

“He’s so quick. He comes out of those breaks in one step almost,” explained the corner. “That’s definitely what makes him a good receiver. He’ll be running at this speed and run a fade. He’ll be running at that speed and come out one step and run a comeback. That’s definitely what makes him tough to cover.”

While Talib was the only one to go quite as far as saying he wants Roethlisberger and Brown to play, he’s certainly not the only one expecting them to be there.

“Regardless of what happened last game, we expect them to play,” said safety Darian Stewart, who returned to practice on Monday. “We’re definitely expecting to see them.”

“Yeah, absolutely,” added head coach Gary Kubiak of if he expects them. “We’re preparing for their team. I think they were what, second or third in offense? They’re very good. You’ve got a lot of great players. We’re preparing for the group. We expect everybody to be there, but we’re preparing to play the Steelers.”

Roethlisberger will likely have more control over if he plays considering as Brown in currently going through the NFL concussion protocol and has yet to be cleared, but either way, Denver is expecting to see the dynamic duo when they take on the Steelers on Sunday at 2:40 (CBS).