Sunday will mark the 8th time that the Denver Broncos have faced the Pittsburgh Steelers in the post season with Denver winning four of the previous seven meetings.
The first time these two teams met in the post season was in 1977 when the Broncos won 34-21 and went on to face the Cowboys in Super Bowl XII. The quarterbacks then were Craig Morton and Terry Bradshaw.
One of the most nail biting playoff games was in 1998 at Pittsburgh during John Elway’s final season. The Broncos won 24-21 and would go on to beat the Atlanta Falcons in Super Bowl XXXIII.
(We do not talk about the playoff game in 2006 when the Broncos hosted the AFC Championship game and Jake Plummer was the quarterback)
The last time the Broncos played the Steelers in the playoffs was in 2012 when Tim Tebow led the Broncos to an upset victory icing the game with an 80 yard touchdown to Demaryius Thomas the first play in overtime. It was Ben Roethlisberger’s second playoff game against the Broncos having beaten the Jake Plummer led team in 2006.
Now it’s Peyton Manning back at the helm for Denver and this time it’s the Broncos who have the NFL’s best defense who are out for revenge after the Steelers put up 34 points on them almost a month ago.
Pittsburgh is coming in banged up after their wild-card showdown with the Bengals. Big Ben has a sprained throwing shoulder and they will be without running back DeAngelo Williams and wide receiver Antonio Brown who lit the Broncos up last time they met to the tune of 189 yards and two touchdowns. Von Miller and gang should have a big day defensively.
Can the Steelers defeat the Broncos without Antonio Brown & DeAngelo Williams? #SteelersWIN #SteelersLOSE pic.twitter.com/d5s6Em12zf
— NFL Network (@nflnetwork) January 15, 2016
No!
Unless Ben Roethlisberger is 90% the @steelers have NO CHANCE of beating the @Broncos. pic.twitter.com/zWbzeECDLx
— Stephen A Smith (@stephenasmith) January 15, 2016
Get out the orange towels and Go Broncos!
