Demaryius Thomas's Mom Will Be present

Demaryius Thomas's Mom will get to watch him play live for the first time in her life today against the Pittsburgh Steelers. She went to prison in 1999 for conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute cocaine. She was released in 2015 when President Obama commuted the sentences of 46 non-violent criminals. Unfortunately, she was unable to go to games earlier in the year due to travel restrictions.

I don't want to get into weather or not this influence Demaryius to play better against the Steelers, especially since they have a sorry pass defense. The offense should be able to put plenty of points on the board much like they did in the first game, but hopefully they are able to add something in the second half.

This will be a great moment for both of them. Hopefully she will be able to make the AFC Championship game as well.

Steelers @ Broncos Preview

This game would be much more exciting if Big Ben and Antonio Brown were at full health, this is not the case and as a Broncos fan, I cant really find it in me to care that much. Their offense is severely limited if they cant go deep to Marckus Wheaton and Martavis Bryant. TJ Ward and Darian Stewart missed the first matchup between these teams and their presence will certainly help the passing defense. Harris, Talib and Roby will do their thing and I wouldn't expect the Steelers to score more than 13.

Peyton Manning looked pretty good when he made his surprise emergence back into the starting lineup during the second half against the Chargers. He was able to make better calls at the line of scrimmage, which is the main reason the offense was able to move the ball better in the second half. Well, that and not turning the ball over. Benching Matt Schofield was a move that should have been made after he was abused for four sacks by Kahlil Mack. Tyler Polumbus came in for him in the second half and although he was pretty mediocre, he was a big step up from Schofield. 

Ronnie Hillman and CJ Anderson make a fairly intimidating duo in the backfield. If they can both play like they have shown that they are capable of, this offense will be really tough for the Steelers to stop. Neither of them were able to get it going in the first matchup, but the line has been blocking better since then and their play improved over the last two weeks. Kubiak needs to feed Anderson the ball more consistently, he always runs better with ten or more carries than he does with five. For some reason, Kubiak shies away from him at times and it tends to hurt the team. 

Demaryius Thomas's Mom will be able to watch him play live football for the first time in her life since she was released from prison in October of 2015. I expect Thomas to want to have a big game in front of his Mom and the Steelers' secondary lends themselves to those types of big games.

Emmanuel Sanders had a huge game in the first meeting and had 10 catches for 181 yards to go along with a long touchdown. He should be able to cook that secondary for a second time. Sanders probably should have had a bigger game, but Osweiler had a poor showing in the second half, which limited his opportunities.

Virgil Green caught his only pass last week when Manning came back in the second half. He and Owen Daniels will get most of the snaps at tight end since they cant risk putting Vernon Davis out there in important moments. 

Derek Wolfe tallied half of a sack in the first meeting. He could be in line for another big game and ready to prove that he is worth the big contract he just signed. Ben will be punished by him and the rest of the defensive front as well. He is already suffering from a separated shoulder and a relentless pass rush could cause him to come out of the game. Malik Jackson was ruthless in the first game as he tallied 1.5 sacks. His pass rushing ability will continue to cause many problems for the Steelers. Von Miller, who was voted first team all-pro, is one of the best pass rushers in the NFL. Expect Ben to try and get rid of the ball extremely quick because of the pass rush coupled with his injury.

The only way that the Steelers can move the ball effectively is if they are able to run it on first and second down. They were effective running the football against Cincinnati so I would not discount them even though the Broncos defense is spectacular. Big Ben will have a tough time throwing deep because of his shoulder injury, but he will likely still be a very effective passer within 10 yards of the line of scrimmage.  

The hobbled Steeler should not be able put up many points against this very good defense. All the Broncos' need to do is sustain a couple of drives in order to put this one away. 27-10.

Update: Trevor Siemian is inactive, which means Brock must be healthy since there was talk of dressing a third QB earlier in the week. Shiloh Keo is inactive for the second time since they acquired him. He has not played very well and with the other safeties healthy, there isn't much reason to have him out there. Omar Bolden is active, which means he will provide safety depth because of his ability to cover. He will also be available to return kicks. Bolden is a not a big name as a returner, but he does have the ability to take it to the house. 

Should Kansas City Draft a Quarterback?

Alex Smith is a quarterback who can get you into the playoffs, but he will never be good enough to make the Super Bowl. Any Kansas City fan that still believes that he can do so is delusional. He cannot throw it deep effectively even though he has made more of an effort to get the be downfield this season.

He is due to be payed almost $18 million next season, which is too much for a QB of his caliber. Unfortunately for the Chiefs, the distribution of quarterback salaries are skewed to the top. They have shown that they are willing to pay big money for a QB so that money should go to one that has the ability to win a Super Bowl.

I am not advocating that Smith should be cut, they need to keep him in order to remain as competitive as possible. Carson Wentz, a small school star a North Dakota State, could be available for them late in the second round. He is the type of quarterback that this team should pursue in order to move onto the next phase of their team. Cardale Jones and Christain Hackenberg could also be available in the second or third rounds. If the do not pull the trigger on a mid round quarterback this season, one has to wonder if their front office is content with only making the playoffs.

One thing was clear during the Saturday matchup against New England, Alex Smith is not talented enough to win playoff games on his own. Tom Brady, Peyton Manning, Joe Flacco and Ben Roethlisberger have been the only quarterbacks to make it out of the AFC since the Raiders made the Super Bowl in 2002. Alex Smith does not compare to any of those quarterbacks. They cannot afford to wait another year.

Kansas City @ New England

I'll start off by saying that I want Kansas City to win this game. Not because I believe that the Broncos will lose if they end up playing the Patriots, but I want Manning to to able to have revenge against the team that sent him to the bench two months ago.

The Chiefs have more of chance to win this game than many people believe they do. The Patriots didn't really inspire confidence in anyone by losing their last two games to end up as the 2nd seed. However, they still need to deal with Gronk, which is a difficult task for any defense, even a good one like Kansas City. Julian Edelman will be back for the Patriots. He makes the offense better even if he does not create many explosive plays.

The Patriots are going to run into problems if they fail to run the ball effectively. If they faced with multiple long down situations, the Chiefs defense should be able to feast.

Kansas City's pass rush will punish Tom Brady if he cannot get rid of the ball quickly. The rush from the inside is every bit as important as from the outside against Brady because it limits his ability to step up into the pocket and make throws.

The entire game lies on the Chiefs defense. If they are not able to contain the Patriots offense, they have absolutely no chance to win the game because I cannot expect Alex Smith to win a shootout against Tom Brady. If they are able to keep the score low and the offense is not expect do to too much, they could pull out the W.

The Chiefs cannot expect Alex Smith to go out there and win them this game. He is not that type of quarterback. They need to get the run game going in order to have any type of success. Charcandrick West and Spencer Ware need to get the offense in short yardage situations on second and third downs. Then Smith can be effective at moving the sticks, which is all they can reasonably expect him to do in the playoffs.

Jeremy Maclin might not play and even if he does he will be limited, which forces the Chiefs to keep the passing game short. Travis Kelce will have to be a big part of the offense if they expect to move the ball.

I think that the Chiefs will win this game 20-17, but I would not be surprised if they lose. Expect the game to be within three points either way.

Derek Wolfe Extended

Derek Wolfe signed a four year extension today, ensuring that they will have good defensive lines for years to come. He will make 36.7 million over the life of the deal, which makes it very unlikely that they will also sign Malik Jackson. It was always going to be a one or the other situation with those two. Wolfe's ability to defend very well against the run probably gave him the edge over Malik when in front office was deciding who to pursue. Only about half of the deal is guaranteed, which makes it very easy to cut ties with him if he does not perform in the future.

Wolfe has been a extremely important part of the top ranked defense ever since he came off of his four game suspension to begin the season. He has registered at least half a sack in six out of the last seven games to finish the season. He finished with the most sacks since his rookie season despite missing four games.

He finally found his fit in the NFL in the 3-4 defense. He was good before this year, but he has been able to take his play to another level this season in his natural position.


Resigning Wolfe allows the front office to focus all of its efforts on Von Miller. I expect his deal to be done before the franchise tag deadline, unlike Demaryius last offseason.

Antonio Brown Ruled Out

Antonio Brown will officially miss Sunday's Divisional Round game against Denver due to a concussion he received on the last drive of the Steelers Wild Card Round game against Cincinnati. Brown is probably the best wide receiver in the league at this moment, which makes his absence in this game a huge bonus to the Broncos.

Antonio Brown had his best game of the season in the week 15 matchup between the two teams in which he racked up 16 catches 189 yards and 2 touchdowns. I believe Chris Harris would have a better game against him the second time around, especially since he will have safety help this time around as TJ Ward and Darian Stewart are expected to play. Even with all that taken into account, Brown's absence undoubtedly makes things easier for the Denver defense on Sunday.

Martavis Bryant and Marckus Wheaton are still good option for Ben to have, but they are nowhere near the level of Brown. Ben wont be able to throw downfield often, which limits the big play ability of those two. I believe that Talib and Harris will stick to one side or the other for most of the game because none of the Steeler's receivers are good enough to be shadowed.

This game would have a very different feel if Antonio Brown was healthy. He creates problems for any team that he faces and his absence is a huge blow to the Steelers' offense.

Week 15 Reaction

Another abysmal second half caused the Broncos to drop a second consecutive game and fall to 10-4 on the year. The offense again scored zero points in the second half, but this time it was after putting up four touchdowns in the first rather than four field goals. But this was Pittsburgh, not Oakland. Brock seems to be reluctant to go downfield with the football in the second half even though that was part of his success in the first half. He was doing his part in the first half of picking apart that shaky secondary then he decided to be conservative with his throws in the second half. The defense was not playing like one would expect the 2015 Broncos defense to play, especially in the secondary.The culmination of; talent that Pittsburgh has at wide receiver, bad play and injuries ultimately spelled doom for the defense in the second half. 

Brock was awful in the second half. There is no way around it. He was 7-26 after he went down with a left shoulder injury late in the first half. His poor play could be explained by that injury, but he has not proved during the past month to be a different second half player than the player he was today. Time will tell, but if the coaches do think the injury is to blame, we could see Manning in 8 days. 

One last gripe about the offense is that CJ Anderson was left out of the running game. Hillman played well, but CJ needs to see more touches than he did today. Maybe they were saving him since it was his first week back from injury, I’m not sure. 

The defense could not have been asked to hold up any longer against Pittsburgh’s vaunted passing attack. Constant three and outs in the second half caused the defense to ire out much quicker than it would have under normal circumstance. The lack of TJ Ward, Darian Stewart and a banged up David Bruton left the Broncos without adequate help up top and the corners were left out to dry. Chris Harris played his worst game as a pro football player and if these two teams were to meet up again, I would not expect the same play from him. For the most part, the corners held up just about as well as they could without any help from the safeties. 

The biggest issue to come out of the game was not the loss itself, but the fact that the team needs to win out to ensure the division and a playoff spot. Cincinnati beat San Francisco this week, but I believe Denver can and will beat them. Hopefully Manning is healthy enough to suit up for that game.