Pittsburgh Steelers v.s. Denver Broncos Preview

The game of the week features the second ranked Pittsburgh Steelers offense against the first ranked Denver Broncos defense. The high flying Steelers have scored thirty points in five consecutive games, but face a stingy Denver defense that has yet to allow an opponent to score thirty points in a game. Pittsburgh needs to win in order to stay alive in the playoff race. Here are the keys to today's matchup.

• Steelers Wide Receiver Antonio Brown has only exceeded 100 yards  once when facing a top twenty cornerback 
• Denver has never allowed a receiver to break 100 yards (Played Calvin Johnson, T.Y. Hilton)
• Denver has yet to allow a quarterback to surpass 300 yards in a game this season (Have faced Aaron Rodgers, Tom Brady, and Matthew Stafford this season)
• Ben Roethlisberger has thrown for over 300 yards in four of his last five games
• Steelers have 11:13 Turnover Ratio over past five games
• Broncos lead NFL in sacks with 44 but have less sacks at tome than on the road (Steelers have allowed less than half of their season sack total on the road)
• Steelers are 5th in NFL with 38 sacks, but have less than half of their season sack total when playing at home (Denver has allowed less sacks when playing on the road)
• Broncos are missing both of their starting safties this game

The Key Matchups:

• Steelers Wide Receivers v.s. Broncos Cornerbacks
• Antonio Brown v.s. Chris Harris JR
• Martavius Bryant v.s. Aquib Talib
• Markus Wheaton v.s. Bradley Roby
• All 3 Broncos Cornerbacks are Ranked in the Top 30 of Pro Football Focus Cornerback Rankings
• Steelers Offensive Guards Ramon Foster and David Decastro v.s. Broncos Defensive Lineman Malik Jackson, Derek Wolfe, and Sylvester Williams
• Steelers Nose Tackle Steve McClendon v.s. Broncos Left Guard Evan Mathis
• Steelers Left Tackle Alejandro Villanueva v.s. Broncos Outside Linebacker Von Miller

My Prediction:

Broncos 37 - Steelers 27

Why?:

• Demariuys Thomas and Emmanuel Sanders are going to overwhelm the Steelers porous pass defense early in the game, which will help Denver open up a run game against a great Pittsburgh run defense
• Ben Roethlisberger is going to struggle at home and will throw 2 costly interceptions
• Markus Wheaton will eclipse over 100 yards receiving
• Kicking game will be deciding factor in this game
• Brock Osweiler has first career 300 yard game
• Danny Trevathan and Brandon Marshall will shut down Heath Miller and any Pittsburgh weapon in the middle of the field (Both are top 10 linebackers according to Pro Football Focus)