Denver Broncos 31 - Pittsburgh Steelers 0
The Broncos follow up a strong
postseason preseason (edit: getting a bit ahead of myself :lol

by lighting the first sparks of playoff fever in Denver. The Broncos "protected the house" with aplomb, with a ferocious defense that absolutely refused to let the Steelers into the endzone, turning the Steelers over 3 times and also stopping them twice on 4th down inside the 10 (once on a fake field goal which they sniffed out well). Manning had a very good debut, finding his favorite target Demaryius Thomas for 3 scores. The only blemish on his day was a second half pick (which I don't really blame him for, it was a weird Madden play where the receiver was open but he somehow shortarmed it by 10 yards into the lap of a defender. Must have been on the wrong foot or something). The running game was as underwhelming as expected, though McGahee did have a few nice runs.
Manning was 15 of 21 for 215 yards, 3 TDs and 1 INT.
Big Ben was 15 of 32 for 188 yards, 0 TDs and 2 INTs.
McGahee carried 16 times for 63 yards, and also coughed up a fumble (though the Broncos recovered).
Mendenhall carried 6 times for 13 yards.
Thomas was huge for the Broncos, catching 5 balls for 99 yards and 3 scores. Stokley added 5 for 60 from the slot.
Sanders led the Steelers with 5 catches for 75 yards, while Brown added 52 of his own on 2 catches.
The Broncos top draft pick, DE Derek Wolfe had a monster debut, getting 2 sacks including a strip sack which Jason Hunter returned for 6 to give the Broncos a 14-0 lead at the time. Elvis Dumervil also had a sack, while Joe Mays and Champ Bailey had picks (though Champ was injured on the play).
The Steelers didn't manage to sack Manning, though they stopped McGahee for several tough losses. Foote had the pick.
Champ Bailey is out for 4 weeks with broken ribs. No big deal, I only have to face Roddy White and Andre Johnson the next two weeks.
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gg WV! And again, welcome to the league!
Definitely feels good to see that my defensive ability hasn't slipped between seasons, and also that I carried my offensive momentum through into the regular season.