GDT Week 1: Broncos vs Steelers

elliot878 · Joined: 03 Feb 2007 Posts: 9565 Location: Connecticut

Sports Authority Field at Mile High, Denver, Colorado ~ Kickoff: 8:20pm ET / 6:20 pm MT ~ TV: NBC ~ Line: Broncos -1

Pittsburgh Steelers Depth Chart

Offense
QB: Ben Roethlisberger - Byron Leftwich - Charlie Batch
RB: Isaac Redman - Jonathan Dwyer - Baron Batch - Chris Rainey
FB: Will Johnson
WR: Mike Wallace - Antonio Brown - Emmanuel Sanders - Jericho Cotchery
TE: Heath Miller - Leonard Pope - David Paulson
LT: Max Starks - Mike Adams
LG: Willie Colon - Kelvin Beachum
C: Maurkice Pouncey - Doug Legursky
RG: Ramon Foster - David Decastro
RT: Marcus Gilbert - Mike Adams

Defense
LDE: Ziggy Hoods - Al Woods
NT: Casey Hampton - Steve McLendon - Alameda Ta'Amu
RDE: Brett Keisel - Cameron Heyward
OLB: Lamarr Woodley - Jason Worilds
ILB: Larry Foote - Stevenson Sylvester
ILB: Lawrence Timmons - Brandon Johnson
OLB: James Harrison - Chris Carter - Adrian Robinson
CB: Keenan Lewis - Cortez Allen
FS: Ryan Mundy - Robert Golden - (Ryan Clark Mile High INJ)
SS: Troy Polamalu - Will Allen
CB: Ike Taylor - Curtis Brown

Special Teams
KR: Chris Rainey - Emmanuel Sanders
PR: Chris Rainey - Antonio Brown
K: Shane Suisham
P: Drew Butler
LS: Greg Warren

Denver Broncos Depth Chart

Offense
QB: Peyton Manning - Caleb Hanie - Brock Osweiller
RB: Willis McGahee - Knowshon Moreno - Lance Ball - Ronnie Hillman
FB: Chris Gronkowski
WR: Demaryius Thomas - Eric Decker - Brandon Stokley - Matt Willis - Andre Caldwell
TE: Joel Dreessen - Jacob Tamme - Julius Thomas
LT: Ryan Clady - Chris Clark
LG: Zane Beadles - Philip Blake
C: J.D. Walton - C.J. Davis
RG: Manny Ramirez - Chris Kuper (INJ)
RT: Orlando Franklin - Chris Clark

Defense
LDE: Derek Wolfe - Malik Jackson
DT: Ty Warren - Kevin Vickerson
DT: Justin Bannan - Mitch Unrein
RDE: Elvis Dumervil - Robert Ayers
SLB: Von Miller - Nate Irving
MLB: Joe Mays - Steven Johnson
WLB: Wesley Woodyard - Keith Brooking - Danny Trevathan
CB: Champ Bailey - Chris Harris
FS: Rahim Moore - Jim Leonhard
SS: Mike Adams - Quinton Carter - David Bruton
CB: Tracy Porter - Tony Carter - Omar Bolden

Special Teams
KR: Omar Bolden
PR: Jim Leonhard
K: Matt Prater
P: Britton Colquitt
LS: Aaron Brewer

Steelers @ Broncos - Keys to the Game

Quarterback Play
---Unlike last years playoff matchup, we'll see two quarterbacks who can both really sling it. If the defenses are still in pre-season form, we can very well see a shootout. No doubt we'll see a ton of passing by both offenses, so the QB who protects the ball best could end up the winner.

Offensive Line Play
---Both teams have a great pair of pass rushers. For the Steelers its Woodley and Harrison from the 3-4 outside linebacker spots. For the Broncos, its Elvis Dumervil from the right end, and Von Miller from the strongside linebacker spot, and sometimes the left end spot. So the question is not whether or not these defenses can rush the passer, we know they can. The real question is, which offensive line will better protect their quarterback. Neither team has a great offensive line. The unit playing better in both run blocking and pass blocking will have a big effect on their teams success.

Steelers @ Broncos - Game Previews

NFL Preview

Steelers Forum Gameday Thread
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^Jamison. ^!!!!

champ+jay+al=SB · Posted: Mon Sep 03, 2012 8:58 pm Post subject:

When was the last time you were this pumped for a game?
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Shouts to Joe

B Dubbs · Joined: 03 Aug 2011 Posts: 483 Location: Rochester, NY

LET'SS GOOO!

I can't explain how excited I am! My vocabulary just isn't good enough!
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Props to matthouston91 on the sig and jonnyj20 on the avatar.

Cutler06 · Joined: 27 Aug 2006 Posts: 9622 Location: Westminster

I love the rematch aspect, but this will be a DIFFERENT game. Their DC underestimated Tebow, now they have to deal with Peyton. I can easily see them under-estimating our running game to compensate, which has more bite w/o 8 men in the block.

As for the their D, they still have one of the best LBer unit in the NFL, one of the best SS in the game, yet their starting FS has to stay in PITT because of an ailment. Their D-line isn't as good as years past IMO.

While I see this a c;lose game again, I see us coming out on top, 28-23
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elliot878 · Joined: 03 Feb 2007 Posts: 9565 Location: Connecticut

my picks closer to game time.

new format ok?
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^Jamison. ^!!!!

JRebar913 · Joined: 11 Mar 2012 Posts: 989 Location: Kansas City

Super stoked for this season! Love that the whole nation will be watching this game, and will witness the re emergence of PFM.

dbronx42 · Joined: 19 Apr 2010 Posts: 3862 Location: Mile High 303

Barring any injury i think we'll win this game 21-17.

Willis McGahee is the MVP with 18 carries for 120 yards and 1 TD.
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broncosfan07 · Joined: 21 Feb 2007 Posts: 10275 Location: Denver

OakRaiders3828 · Joined: 18 Aug 2007 Posts: 9267 Location: Pennsylvania

GO Steelers Very Happy

Seriously though, Good luck
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O A K L A N D R A I D E R S
Joe_is_the_best on the sig!

Molsted · Posted: Tue Sep 04, 2012 4:16 am Post subject:

lomaxgr · Posted: Tue Sep 04, 2012 4:48 am Post subject:

Elliot - AWESOME gamethread man. Maybe the best I have ever seen on this site. The effort is definitely appreciated.

I mentioned in the Steelers thread that I think our ability to stop the run is going to be the key to this game. If we let the Steelers gain big chunks on the ground it not only keeps PFM off the field, but also leave us REALLY exposed to the Steelers explosive Play Action passing game. Mike Wallace and Antonio Brown probably get behind Defense's off Play Action more than any pair in the NFL, so that is a huge concern if we are having to start cheating against the run.

On the flip side, if we can force 3rd and long then Big Ben is going to have to get ready to be hit early and often. Max Starks and Marcus Gilbert simply aren't going to be able to handle Elvis and Von in obvious passing situations.

I am so excited for this game, but unfortunately I am not going to be able to watch it with you guys. It starts at 1.20am Monday morning here in the UK, so I will be getting up at around 5.30 am to watch the recording of it.

Here's hoping our fans haven't sold their tickets to pesky Steeler fans!
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20 TIMES, 20 TIMES MAN UNITTTTTEEDDD

From the banks of the River Irwell, to the shores of Sicily

AntiSuperstar · Joined: 07 Oct 2007 Posts: 4341

Is Harrison expected to play I wonder? I'm curious to see what the Pittsburgh's subpackage blitzes will look like. In pre-season Pittsburgh rather frequently would line Timmons outside and use him as a primary pass rusher(where the OLB Chris Carter would either cover a back or blitz if the back stayed in to block). Will they do the same with Harrison as Carter or does that just mean Timmons will be covering more? They played a lot of varying nickel sets, often times they like to keep only 2 D-Lineman(Keisel and Hood most likely) and have 4 Linebackers out there.

I don't know how our players(Center over to the right) are going to be able to hold up against the Steelers stunts and blitzes so perhaps a conservative gameplan would do us best? Pittsburgh fans have been hyping McClendon but my impression is a guy who does good against average interior linemen and not so good against good ones. I think we can get some movement in the run game. So long as we don't have Tight Ends isolated against Harrison or Woodley.

In the Playoffs last year their receivers didn't kill us, maybe it was because Roethlisberger wasn't healthy but I'm still a bit worried about how we will match against Wallace and Brown. It will be a good test. Porter is much more athletic than Goodman and it will help against those quick receivers(which Pittsburgh did a poor job of taking advantage of last season, Emmanuel Sanders should have played more because Goodman struggled with him, much more of a matchup problem than Cotchery).

We don't have DJ, which means our nickel linebackers are going to be Mays and Woodyard. I'm honestly not looking forward to seeing these guys try to tackle Ben Roethlisberger, so hopefully Dumervil and company bring down Ben and prevent him from getting loose.

If Harrison plays, I expect holding penalties on Clady and I also expect Chris Rainey is going to make some mistakes for the Steelers. Also it's a big plus for us that the Steelers good Safety isn't playing, because his replacement in Mundy sucks as a starting Safety.
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Stop slobbering over Brian Dawkins

AussieBronco66 · Joined: 16 Oct 2009 Posts: 437

Steelers players could come out with mentality of getting back at us for last year which could go both ways. But I feel the best way to approach this game is that it is the first step in winning the SB.

I can't wait to see Manning play 4 quarters of football, it will be interesting how much no huddle is played as it will probably be a gauge as how much we will run it throughout the year. More importantly I cant wait for Prater time again. With Manning at the helm I expect a few more chip shots if any but if he can land a 53yd as his first FG of the season well I'll go nuts

Denver 31
Pittsburgh 17

Harris with a pick and Hillman to get his first TD
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mess with him at your peril

broncos67 · Joined: 28 Dec 2006 Posts: 18374 Location: Capitol Cit-ay

This will definitely be a close game. Pittsburgh does not have a particularly adept offensive line, and even less so with the injuries now. Ryan Clark being out is of course a benefit to us, even though it's unfortunate that he has to be for health reasons.

Wallace won't be in full force, that's a plus for us. They don't have a great running threat with Mendenhall out, though I do like Isaac Redman. I think that we may get lucky playing Pittsburgh now, rather than Week 10, say. Also, better believe this crowd will be fired up for Manning's first home game, and the return of a playoff team from last year. Oh, and it's prime time.

I think we pull it out 23-20.
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Thanks, Tzimisce

jsthomp2007 · Joined: 11 Jan 2008 Posts: 6252 Location: USA

Despite a pass happy league, I think this game comes down to who runs the ball the best. I agree with whoever said McGahee will be the MVP of the game. I think if the Steelers cannot find their running game and it seems like they are a bit dinged up in that area, the Broncos can win.

If Big Ben has to throw, and even though I see him as a quality passer, I think the DB's will have a great game, in part, because like lomax said, Von and Doom will have fun chasing the clock around.

I could see this game being very close, because these teams seem pretty evenly matched. I always hope for the season opener to be a blow out and perhaps we see the kind of team we will see all season in the 1Q 49ers preseason game, where Manning makes a lot of short throws, a few longer throws, yet a whole of steadiness and Manning getting everyone involved kind of a game...I would appreciate that...if they can replicate that kind of offense then I predict a 68-28 victory for the Broncos.
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Ninja stealth muggers in the Bellagio has left me in a state of congitive disonance...