Week 7: Pittsburgh at Denver

Injuries and three straight weeks of terrible defense have been the most obvious reasons for Denver’s recent losing streak, but there’s no shortage of reasons to feel nervous if you’re a Broncos fan. They’re in the midst of a tough stretch in their schedule. Ostensible star running back Travis Henry is spending most of his energy trying to avoid a full-year suspension for chronic chronic-related violations of the NFL’s substance abuse policy. Head coach Mike Shanahan is suffering terrible headaches because his eyeballs have been bulging from his skull nonstop since 1989. From a football perspective, though, most of the Broncos problems are on the defensive side of the ball. If that could ever be good news, it won’t be this week.

Despite the best passing defense in the league, the Broncos are dead last in rushing yards allowed – a nasty 187.6 yards per game – and have thus been unable to stop teams from piling up long, clock-gobbling scoring drives. Week after week, teams have run over the Broncos D. Eventually, maybe against Green Bay next week, the Broncos will meet a run defense they can slow down, which should allow their star-studded secondary to make some plays. This week, though, they face the NFL’s second-best rushing offense and one of the league’s premier big-play threats in Steelers RB Willie Parker. Which means we could pretty much end the preview here.

But that wouldn’t be any fun. (And also wouldn’t allow us to reach word count) Still, while football games are inevitably more complicated than stats make them sound, this one may well come down to the Steelers pounding the ball with Parker behind their ace offensive line and simply wearing Denver down. Starting with a rejuvenated Ben Roethlisberger, who is passing as efficiently and effectively as he has since 2004, Pittsburgh’s offense has been very good thus far. They won’t try to do much down the field here – for reasons that have more to do with Broncos CBs Dre’ Bly and Champ Bailey than with any lack of confidence in Big Ben or his back-to-full-strength receivers – but, again, they probably won’t have to.

And if the Steelers can control the clock – we’re betting they can – then they should be able to stay in control all game long. Jay Cutler, the Broncos young quarterback, is clearly pretty good, but he’s not yet capable of taking over a game. That’s doubly true with top receiving option Javon Walker still on the shelf with a knee injury and a running game that’s less consistent than any in the Shanahan Administration. While Cutler’s numbers haven’t been terrible this season, the defense’s failure to stop opposing offenses from chewing up clock and yardage have put the offense in an awkward spot. Built to use their passing game as a big-play counterpoint to a methodical running attack, they’ve instead been forced to do the opposite. The result has been ugly, as they’ve been outscored 79-23 in their last two losses.

And then there’s that Steelers defense, which has been the best in the NFL so far in points allowed (an amazing 9.3) and overall yards allowed (just 235.6). Only three teams have been better against the run, and with the improved health of NT Casey Hampton and tackle-machine safety Troy Polamalu, Pittsburgh’s defense is now at something approaching full strength. This is not only scary for a Broncos team desperate to establish its running game, but also for any team that will face the Steelers this season. Underrated in their Super Bowl season and somewhat overrated since, this is the best Steelers team in quite awhile. For a Broncos team that doesn’t need more of it, that, too, is bad news.

Steelers by 9