BRONCOS BAIT BIG BEN AND ARE BACK IN THE HUNT
Down 24–17, the Steelers’ high-octane offense had first-and-goal from the Denver three-yard line coming out of the two-minute warning. Believe it or not, it really took just one defensive call from the Broncos to get the three stops they needed to send Ben Roethlisberger and company packing with their first loss since September.
The front the Broncos rolled out there is a variation of Buddy Ryan’s old Bears defense. We’ll let Denver coach Vance Joseph take it from there.
“It’s our inside-the-five defense—we call it Cub Free,” Joseph said over the phone after the win. “It’s really a 46 defense with an extra defender in to fill. And it’s designed to stop the run game obviously, and then play leverage on the slot. Our D-linemen obviously play the run game first, and then they pop [into coverage] for the pass. So we knew the pass rush wasn’t going to be our premium for that call, but if he threw it, it was gonna be short and across the middle. So we have a low-ball player, and we have a guy popping in the hole. It was a great call by [coordinator] Joe Woods, something we practice all the time. On first down, it was the same defense, Chris Harris makes the play on the inverted fade. The second down, we stop the run. And the third down was Shelby’s play.”
Shelby is Shelby Harris, who spent the first three years of his career on and off practice squads (and became a father for the first time three days ago), before finding a home in Denver in 2017. On the play, he was working off Steelers center Maurkice Pouncey, subtly falling into a spot where Roethlisberger might lose him.
And lose him Roethlisberger did. Big Ben floated the ball just above Harris’ head, and Harris extended up to snag it for an end-zone interception and put a 24-17 win to bed.