Pittsburgh Steals AFC Crown With Dominating Win In Denver

DENVER – Big Ben, the Bus, and all those Terrible Towels sure are traveling well this postseason. Next stop, the Super Bowl, the final destination of a Pittsburgh road trip the Denver Broncos were powerless to derail.Ben Roethlisberger had a brilliant afternoon, throwing for 275 yards and two scores, and Jerome Bettis extended his career one more game, lifting the Steelers to a dominating 34-17 victory in the AFC title game yesterday.Bettis said, “We’re going home!” as the game wore down and he celebrated on the sideline. He is, indeed, going back to his hometown of Detroit for Pittsburgh’s first appearance in the Super Bowl since 1995.Outschemed, outplayed, and pushed around all day, the Broncos (14-4) shuffled off to their locker room, heads down, after their first home loss in 10 tries this season.“They had a great game plan,” said Broncos coach Mike Shanahan, now 2-1 in AFC title games. “They played big on the road, very well-coached game, very well-played game.”Though Pittsburgh’s next game, against either Seattle or Carolina, will be a homecoming for Bettis, the Steelers (14-5) have looked extremely comfortable on the road. They became the first team to win three away games to make it to the Super Bowl since the 1985 New England Patriots.They came out passing, not running, much the same way they did when they upset Indianapolis last week. The first drive resulted in a field goal. On Denver’s next possession, Pittsburgh’s Joey Porter blitzed to force a Jake Plummer fumble. Five plays later, Roethlisberger hit Cedrick Wilson for a touchdown and a 10-0 lead.After a Denver field goal, the Steelers essentially salted this game with a 14-play, 80-yard drive that ate up nearly 7 1/2 minutes and had the Broncos defense totally off balance and gasping for air. The Steelers converted six of seven third downs in the first half.Bettis capped it by bulling in from the 3 yard line for a 17-3 lead to put him well on his way to the Super Bowl.“This is a great group of guys, how we got here, we’re a different team,” coach Bill Cowher said. “We’re a focused team, no matter what’s happened, we’ve stayed together. We’ve got a resilient group.”The Broncos trailed by two touchdowns, but they had escaped worse predicaments in the past. But there was no Drive, no Fumble, no comeback, and no John Elway on the field this day.Plummer, who had played so well in the lead all season, finally faced some comeback pressure and failed miserably. He went 18-for-30 for 223 yards with two lost fumbles and two interceptions. He threw one pass underhanded, scrambled for his life and, though valiant as always, proved what had been proved many times before – that he can’t do it by himself.Trailing by two touchdowns, Jake the Snake lobbed a terrible pass into the flat that was easily intercepted by Ike Taylor. Moments later, Roethlisberger threaded a 17-yard touchdown pass that barely cleared the fingertips of Al Wilson and Nick Ferguson before finding Hines Ward tucked neatly in the back of the end zone. That made it 24-3.Midway through the fourth quarter, Denver pulled within 27-17 and got the ball back at its 20. But Plummer lost a fumble on fourth-and-10 and that pretty much sealed it. The Steelers were going to the Big Game, searching for that elusive fifth world championship. Five AFC title games since 1994, all at home, resulted in only one victory.

Pittsburgh Steals AFC Crown With Dominating Win In Denver

Pittsburgh Steals AFC Crown With Dominating Win In Denver

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