Steelers' favorite status against Denver has a flimsy feel
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Some attempt at small talk being a job requirement at many of this great nation's rental car counters, the redhead in Denver the last time I was there for a playoff game was opening with the standard "so-what-brings-you-to-town?" card.
"Football," I remember saying the day before the AFC championship game of the 2005 season.
"Broncos will win, don't ya think?" she said perkily.
"Umm, I actually think Pittsburgh will win," I said, perhaps a tad less perkily.
The look I got for that opinion, had it been caught on surveillance, would have been a fireable offense.
"Oh no," she said, horrified. "I don't think so."
And from there we moved uncomfortably to the fact that I needed two forms of identification, but the point is, in this often delicious presentation they call the NFL playoffs, many teams you don't think can win just go right ahead and do it.
Teams that would otherwise need two forms of identification.
Last year, the 7-9 Seahawks got a home game against the defending Super Bowl champion New Orleans Saints. Went right ahead and beat 'em.
One day in January 2006, the day after my conversation with the redheaded stranger, the sixth-seeded Steelers beat the Denver Broncos, 34-17, and on another day in January 2012, the Denver Broncos might flip the narrative entirely despite all manner of empirical evidence that says otherwise.
"They've got the best running game in the league," Steelers defensive tackle Ziggy Hood was saying as practice began in earnest for the postseason. "I've seen it on tape, but I think we'll be all right if we do our jobs correctly and everyone wraps up properly."
Football seasons only seem to wrap up properly around here if the Steelers set off to a Super Bowl, and while that ambition likely will survive this Rocky Mountain weekend, you know and I know these Steelers can be had.
Critical components of Mike Tomlin's team seem to fly off almost daily, with two more starters unavailable this week than were on the field Sunday in Cleveland, with Ben Roethlisberger apparently warning of another wobbly performance on his setback ankle, with the entire product looking seriously unimpressive now for a solid month.
Even the mercurial wideout Antonio Brown, who made the Pro Bowl, got named team MVP, broke the franchise record for all-purpose yardage in a season, became the first player in NFL history to pile 1,000 return yards on top of 1,000 receiving yards, and I think barely avoided the Nobel Prize for Chemistry, still hasn't caught a touchdown pass since Dec. 8.
First Published January 5, 2012 12:00 am
