Broncos must match the physical Steelers

The Denver Broncos are a nice football team with good defense, but in the eyes of many they are no Pittsburgh Steelers.

But the Broncos are trying to become the Steelers Ń a consistently elite NFL team that competes and wins Super Bowls and rarely is beaten up physically.

“It is an opportunity for us is what it is,” said Broncos head coach Josh McDaniels. “To me, it all starts with the Steelers. We are excited to get back at work, getting ready to play the defending Super Bowl champion on Monday Night Football and getting ready to play a game against a team that has very, very few, if any, weaknesses.”

After Denver’s physical beat-down in every phase of the game last week vs. the Baltimore Ravens, McDaniels and staff have done their best this week to prepare their players for the equally physical Steelers.

“We learned a lot of things about ourselves through this process the last couple days. Pittsburgh is a very physical team in every phase. If you are going to get out-physicaled offensively, defensively and in the kicking game, you are going to have a hard time winning,” McDaniels said. 

And physical might be an understatement for the Steelers’ defense. Brutally physical is more like it with players like Troy Polumalu, James Harrison and James Farrior, who don’t just play defense, but attack offenses.

“Every week in this league is a test, but when you are playing a team like Pittsburgh who has had the success that they’ve had, speaking for the offense, this has been a great defense probably for the last 30 years so nothing has changed,” said Broncos quarterback Kyle Orton.  “We are going to have to play physical, we are going to have to play smart and we are going to have to play our best game.”

The Steelers also have a young, great head coach in Mike Tomlin, who is not only a great leader of men but is also a great game planner.

The Steelers are rarely unprepared and out-coached, and also rarely get beat up. McDaniels, another good young NFL head coach, has faced the Steelers many times and he knows his team must play their best game to beat the World Champions.  

“They are definitely going to challenge you in every area. Every one of their players plays like that. I don’t care if it is the kickoff returner, the kicker, the tight ends, the lines, whomever it is, [quarterback Ben] Roethlisberger, they are all physical players that play tough and are going to present that challenge to us individually and as a team collectively,” McDaniels.

“We are going to have to play our best football in order to have an opportunity to beat them on Monday night.”

Keeping it real as always, Broncos safety Brian Dawkins has never bought into hype and supposed stereotypes. He knows you have to get it done on the field in order to beat an NFL opponent, and he sees the Steelers as just another opponent that he must beat. 

“It is about us doing what we do. We are not trying to match somebody. We are trying to be who we are. When you are trying to match somebody, to me, that is saying that they are a team that is above you, or you are trying to build up to them,” Dawkins said.  “We are who we are, and if we go out and do what we are supposed to do, we feel like we have a chance to win every game.”

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