No Antonio Brown, no DeAngelo Williams, no Le'Veon Bell and a banged up Ben Roethlisberger...and the Pittsburgh Steelers still almost pulled it off. Fighting against the NFL's no. 1 ranked defense, the Steelers held a 13-12 lead in their AFC Divisional matchup with the Denver Broncos and had the ball with just under 10 minutes left. Then, disaster.
Fitzgerald Toussaint fumble recovered by Ware. pic.twitter.com/Zojr1km97B
Running back Fitzgerald Toussaint, filling in for both Williams and Bell, had the football blasted out of his hands on a run toward the left sideline, and DeMarcus Ware recovered it at the Broncos own 35 yard line. From there, Manning went on a vintage, six-plus minute drive to score the go ahead touchdown, and converted a two-point conversion to go up a full seven points.
The Steelers couldn't get anything going on the following drive, and Roethlisberger took a sack he just absolutely couldn't take on 4th down, and the Broncos took over on downs. They would kick a field goal, and that was that.
Peyton Manning back to pass. Falls down. Gets up. Finds Emmanuel Sanders for 34 yards. #PITvsDEN https://t.co/ifvw3YgAEI
Manning looked spry, as spry as a 40-year-old man could, off two weeks of rest, and even went Manning Football when he fell over dropping back to pass, realized no one had touched him, then popped back up and fired a bullet for a first down.
Manning now faces off with nemesis Tom Brady for the 17th time in his career, a matchup he finds himself on the short end of, going 5-11 against the New England Patriots quarterback. This time, it's to head to the Super Bowl, so you already know it's going to be Lit.