Dec 20, 2015 6 min read

Say what you will about the 2015 Steelers, but you have to admit, they are an entertaining group to watch.

People have gone after me on Twitter because even when this team is down a couple of scores, I try to play devil’s advocate and point out that the game isn’t won or lost in the first quarter or even the second quarter – especially with this team.

If you needed any proof of that, Sunday’s 34-27 win over Denver is case and point.

The Steelers looked dead in the water in this one when Brock Owseiler threw a 6-yard touchdown pass to Demaryius Thomas to go ahead 27-10 with 1:56 remaining in the first half.

But Ben Roethlisberger put together a nice two-minute drive to cut the lead to 27-13. It didn’t seem like much at the time – certainly not in the face of Denver’s 27-point first half – but it made it a two-score game.

So when the Steelers got a couple of three-and-outs to open the second half and finally got rolling, their first score made it a 7-point game. The next tied it.

You could feel Denver folding at that point.

Pro Bowl corner Chris Harris, tasked with following Antonio Brown around all game, looked more like a player who hadn’t been drafted coming out of college – which he was – than a corner who hadn’t given up a touchdown pass since 2013 – also him.

Brown tortured him, finishing with 16 catches for 189 yards and two scores.

If that wasn’t enough, we finally saw some contested catches from Martavis Bryant, most notably when Ben Roethlisberger led him a little too much to the inside on a throw with Aqib Talib in coverage.

Talib has eight career interceptions for touchdowns and was thinking about making that nine on the play. But Bryant jumped in, grabbed the ball and wrestled it away from him. Bryant didn’t get the big yardage plays to which we have become accustomed, but he did catch a career-high 10 passes for 82-chain-moving yards.

And Markus Wheaton, the team’s oft-forgotten receiver for much of this season, also continued to show he can be a major threat out of the slot, catching six passes for 62 yards and a touchdown.

The Steelers were forced to use tight end Heath Miller as an extra blocker much of the time against Denver’s very potent pass rush. In the past, that would have severely limited this offense.

But not the way these guys are now playing.

@ Ryan Shazier picked a good time to come up with his first career interception.

The Steelers think enough of Shazier’s ability to run and cover that they’ve begun taking Lawrence Timmons off the field when they go to a dime defense, leaving Shazier in the middle.

He had come close to interceptions in recent weeks, but finally got a big one Sunday to set up the Steelers’ go-ahead score.

@ The coaching staff continues to run Antwon Blake out early in games before switching things up and going with William Gay, Ross Cockrell and Brandon Boykin later in the game.

Blake wasn’t the problem with Denver ripping the Steelers’ defense to shreds early in this one – though he wasn’t blameless, either.

But given how Steelers fans like to pick a player or two on which to heap all blame, he’ll surely get the majority of it.

On at least two of the touchdown catches in the first half, it appeared the Steelers were out of position in their zone coverage.

Blake got stiff-armed to the ground on Denver’s final TD of the half by Thomas, but the 6-3, 229-pound Thomas does that to a lot of cornerbacks. That’s why he’s who he is.

That said, the Steelers started getting stops when Gay, Cockrell and Boykin were the corners.

@ Most teams will simply take what the other team is giving them – or at least that’s what they’ll say.

The Steelers are intent on taking what they want from the opposing defense. That’s why they weren’t afraid of going into Seattle and throwing the ball around the lot against the so-called Legion of Boom. It also why they had no fear of Denver’s “No Fly Zone.”

The Steelers feel like they have the best passing attack in the league and will continue to do so until somebody stops it.

@ I did have a problem with Roethlisberger’s interception just before the two-minute warning.

I don’t have an issue with throwing the ball in that situation. The clock is going to stop regardless of whether you throw complete or incomplete.

But Roethlisberger has to know better than to make that throw.

His teammates passed it off as Ben being Ben and something they have to live with given his propensity of making plays when he’s on the move like that, but an experienced QB such as Roethlisberger has to know he can’t make that throw in that situation. Just throw it away.

@ Lost in everything was the fact that Emmanuel Sanders had a big game for the Broncos, catching 10 passes for 181 yards and a score.

Sanders could be something of a pouter when he was here, but he is and always has been a talented player.

It’s a shame the Steelers couldn’t figure out a way to pay both he and Brown, who were taken in the third and sixth rounds of the 2010 draft, but it also raises the question of how they’re going to pay both Brown and Bryant in coming years.

Or, they just have to continue to hit home runs at the receiver position.

Of course, having a franchise quarterback doesn’t hurt that at all, either.

@ The Steelers have now positioned themselves nicely for the playoffs.

In fact, if they started today, the Steelers would be the sixth seed based on record against common opponents with the Jets. And there’s nothing the Jets can do to change that.

Now, if you’re really getting greedy, think about the Bengals losing their final two games, at Denver and at home against Baltimore to close out the season.

A loss to the Ravens by Cincinnati isn’t likely, however, so how about this, if Denver loses to Cincinnati or San Diego to close out the regular season, the Broncos could fall behind Kansas City in the AFC West standings.

That would make the Steelers the No. 5 seed in the AFC playoffs ahead of sixth-seeded Denver.

As the No. 5 seed, the Steelers would play the No. 4 seed, likely Houston, in the opening round of the playoffs. And if the Broncos would beat the Chiefs in the opening round – anybody betting against that? – the Steelers would possibly avoid the Patriots until the AFC Championship, getting Cincinnati in the second round.