Steelers vs. Broncos: Tim Tebow's Miracle Well Will Run Dry Against Blitzburgh

Are you tired of hearing “Let’s see if Tim Tebow can have success against a real defense?”  Well, I sure am, and Tebow will be given the opportunity to silence his critics for good up against the elite defensive unit of the Pittsburgh Steelers.  Against Dick LeBeau’s 11 hitmen, though, the Denver Broncos savior won’t be able to put together yet another miraculous victory.

As Tebow haters have been saying all along, Pittsburgh’s defense is a different animal than what he’s be thrown at thus far.  Troy Polamalu and company rank first in the NFL in yards allowed per game and second in points. 

Pittsburgh actually only comes in at No. 9 in yards surrendered on the ground, so some may believe the Broncos have a chance, but that would be nothing but false hope as this Steelers defense is just hitting its stride.

Only once out of the last five games have the Steelers allowed an opposing offense to score at least 10 points in a single contest.  That one contest happened to be against the San Francisco 49ers where Ben Roethlisberger, sporting a high ankle sprain, turned the football over four times. 

Denver has some talent on the defensive side of the football with Champ Bailey, Elvis Dumervil and Von Miller, but it would be hard-pressed to be able to force that many turnovers against an offense that knows how to win in the playoffs as well as anyone.

Even though the Steelers defense will control the game from the opening coin toss, Denver may be able to keep things close for a while.  Pittsburgh’s offense took a huge blow in its season finale against the Cleveland Browns when Rashard Mendenhall went down with a knee injury at the end of the first quarter.  Roethlisberger’s crew only ended up scoring 13 points on the Browns without its starting halfback and, according to NFL.com, Mendenhall is expected to miss the Steelers first-round game.

Pittsburgh will dominate the Broncos, but it won’t end up being a slaughter because the Steelers’ offense will become one-dimensional without Mendenhall.

David Daniels is a featured columnist at Bleacher Report and a syndicated writer.

Follow @TheRealDDaniels