Pittsburgh – So much for the Performers Formerly Known as Super Bowl Champions.
Somebody needs to stick a fork in the Pittsburgh Steelers. Not that it would put them out of their misery. They’ve got eight more games before they get to schedule tee times.
The Steelers went into today’s game against the Broncos as three-point favorites despite a 2-5 record that had landed them in last place in the AFC North. Obviously, the wise guys in Las Vegas thought the Steelers were ready to take out their frustrations on somebody.
Never happened.
Javon Walker caught two 10-yard touchdown passes from Jake Plummer and scored on a 72-yard reverse to carry the Broncos to a 31-20 victory at Heinz Field. With the win, the Broncos improved to 6-2 and remained tied with San Diego for first place in the AFC West.
The Steelers came into the game minus-5 in turnovers, a far cry from the plus-7 they racked up last season, when they qualified for the playoffs as a wild card and won the Super Bowl.
That number got uglier in a hurry when Santonio Holmes fumbled during a kickoff return, giving the Broncos the ball on the Pittsburgh 10. Denver had scored moments earlier on a 16-yard Plummer-to-Rod Smith pass.
The Broncos turned the gift into a quick touchdown when Plummer floated a pass into the end zone that Walker snatched away from a Steelers defender to give Denver a 14-0 lead less than 4 minutes into the game.
Pittsburgh proceeded to march downfield on the Steelers’ ensuing possession, only to have wide receiver Cedrick Wilson fumble on the Broncos’ 6 after a 35-yard catch and run. The Broncos punted soon thereafter and, sure enough, Holmes fumbled again on the return, only to have teammate Bryant McFadden recover.
The Steelers dominated most of the second quarter, but went into the locker room trailing 14-10. How? Ben Roethlisberger threw an interception with the Steelers in field-goal range, and Jeff Reed missed a 40-yard, field-goal attempt. Such is life for the Steelers of ’06.
How much did their three first-half turnovers hurt the Steelers? Consider this: They outgained the Broncos 266 yards to 106 and had 13 first downs to Denver’s five, but walked off the field trailing by four. Oh, and did we mention the Steelers had the ball for 19 minutes, 6 seconds to 10:54 for the Broncos?
And to think, their frustrations were only going to get worse. Several thousand fans hadn’t yet returned to their seats early in the third quarter when Walker took a handoff from Plummer, juked a would-be tackler near the line of scrimmage and set sail on a 72-yard touchdown.
Walker’s third touchdown of the day came in the fourth quarter when he hauled in another 10-yarder from Plummer to give the Broncos a 28-17 lead.
Denver and Pittsburgh swapped field goals late in the fourth quarter to conclude the scoring.
