Just wanted to post something real quick. 

Eddie Royal concerns me though.  He will probably be matched up against William Gay, who has been very solid but I think a speedy guy like Royal can take advantage of Gay's lack of speed.  I'm sure they will try to match Royal up against Gay and if he has help make sure Tyrone Carter, who also lacks great speed, is backing Gay up.  Post-Gazette is reporting that Clark will sit out of this game - and thats for the best.  I'd rather lose him for a game than for the season again and wouldn't want him to risk his life.  If Royal gets a couple of big catches then I wouldn't be surprised.  Also in the return game, Royal is dangerous.  Good news for steelers fans though, Anthony Frazier - the steelers 2nd leading special teams tackler- will return this game.  He sat out the last two games with a bruised thigh.  The same two games where the steelers gave up a TD returns on kickoffs. 

What helps the steelers out a lot is that Kyle Orton isn't a great deep ball thrower.  Because of this ,denver is a 'play it safe' team that will let you beat yourself and not make mistakes.  The dink and dunk method which offenses use against us will be in full play this monday.  This method which you all know is full of short passes, slants, curls, short post, 10 or 5 yard outs, and screens.   Because of the way our defense is schemed this is the most efficient way to move the ball down the field.  The problem is it takes a lot of consistency and focus for everyone to stay on the same page.  Usually the our defense is good enough to stop the offense at some point.  Although we've been slacking on our 3rd Down defense, the Defense have stepped up these past four games. 

We've (the steelers, not us) had two weeks to prepare for this game.  Two weeks to get the perfect offense against denvers - mediocre defense.  I say mediocre because well they have played against Cleveland, Oak, Cincy, SD.  While the later two offenses are good now, cincy hadn't started clicking at week 1, and SD well no one can figure them out.  The Pats were in a funk and Dallas had turnovers which is what Romo does so well.  I dare say that is the best part of his game.  Especially since this is the first time in his illustrious career that he has went three straight games with no turnovers.  I think we have the offensive fire power to put up some decent stats and some points on this defense which is overrated imho.  Baltimore's D showed us the perfect game plan to bottle up whatever offense denver had.  I think we've have more than enough going in our favor for this game. 

Although Denver is bruised right now from their lost against the Ratbirds, I'm not sure they have the moral to rally among themselves and perservere.  Especially against an elite team coming their way.  There is much to learn about teams so far this season and we will definately learn something monday night.  For the steelers, we'll learn how they handled sucess, coming off a 4 game win streak, and the broncos we'll learn how they deal with losing for the first time under the new head coach.  Either way you put it, my biggest concerns are trumped by my realism in that this should be another win for the black and gold if we don't turn the ball over.  I say 21-10 steelers.