Broncos vs. Steelers: Score and Twitter Reaction from 2015 Regular Season

Needing a win to maintain control of their playoff destiny, the Pittsburgh Steelers came back from a 17-point first-half deficit to knock off the Denver Broncos, 34-27. 

The Steelers' maligned defense made the biggest play of the game with the score tied at 27 and just over four minutes to play. Pittsburgh pressured Broncos quarterback Brock Osweiler on a blitz, forcing him to hurry a throw that Ryan Shazier intercepted at Denver's 37-yard line. 

Pittsburgh's offense immediately went to work, with Ben Roethlisberger hitting Antonio Brown for a 23-yard touchdown three plays later that gave the Steelers a 34-27 advantage. 

After a slow start reminiscent of last week's game against Cincinnati in which he had no touchdowns and one interception, Roethlisberger bounced back with 380 yards, three touchdowns and two interceptions against Denver's top-ranked pass defense.

Big Ben did make a huge mental mistake when the Steelers got the ball back just before the two-minute warning. The Steelers called for a pass, and he scrambled to his left, throwing across his body into the arms of Broncos linebacker Brandon Marshall.

The Steelers defense again stepped up against Osweiler, forcing four straight incompletions to seal the victory.

The mental gaffe notwithstanding, Roethlisberger moved into the history books with another 3,000-yard season, per Alby Oxenreiter of WPXI-TV in Pittsburgh:

It helps that Roethlisberger has Brown on the outside. Pittsburgh's star wideout, who finished with 189 yards and two touchdowns on 16 receptions, became the only player in the NFL with multiple 15-catch games this year, per ESPN Stats & Info:

NFL Network analyst Brian Billick made a favorable cross-sport comparison for Brown:

It's not a bad comparison, since Curry is dominant as a shooter, passer and creator. Brown can burn opponents on the outside, in the slot and as a punt returner, and no one has figured out a way to stop him.

The Broncos offense had been scuffling coming into the game, having not scored a touchdown since the first quarter of Week 13 against the San Diego Chargers, but they looked its old self in the first half against the Steelers. 

Osweiler had two touchdown passes in the span of 93 seconds to help give Denver a 14-7 lead, including a 61-yarder to Emmanuel Sanders on a terrific play-action fake. He finished the game with 296 passing yards, three touchdowns and one interception.

All three of Osweiler's touchdown throws came in Denver's 27-point first half. He briefly left the game near the end of the second quarter after suffering an injury to his non-throwing shoulder, but returned to start the third quarter.

ESPN's Danny Kanell mused on Twitter about what might have happened if Osweiler carried his strong performance from the first half into the second half:

Peyton Manning returned to practice earlier this week, but it is unclear when he will be able to play in game action after suffering a torn plantar fascia in his left foot. 

The problem is that Osweiler bombed in the second half, as he threw for just 69 yards, and the Broncos were shut out in the second half for the third straight game. Not everything that went wrong was on the quarterback, though, as Frank Schwab of Yahoo Sports noted:

Vernon Davis' hands have been a problem over the last few years, dating back to his time with the San Francisco 49ers, and he's shown no signs of figuring out what's wrong. 

This game shifted at halftime for both teams, as the Steelers put up 21 points after the break. The Broncos were 8-of-8 on third-down conversions in the first half, but didn't convert one in the second half until there were eight minutes left in the game. 

Around the NFL noted how drastically things stopped working for Denver's offense:

While Osweiler will be the story for Denver because that's the nature of being a quarterback in the NFL, Emmanuel Sanders did all he could to keep his team on the right track. The former Steelers wideout had his best game of the year with 181 yards and one touchdown on 10 receptions. 

According to ESPN Stats & Info, Sanders did something he had never done before Sunday:

With the loss, the Broncos' record fell to 10-4, and they are suddenly just one game up in the AFC West over the red-hot Kansas City Chiefs, who have won eight straight games. The two teams split their regular-season series, with the Chiefs owning a potential tiebreaker right now thanks to a better division record. 

The Steelers needed this win because the other AFC wild-card contenders, the Chiefs and New York Jets, each won in Week 15, and all three now boast identical 9-5 records. The Steelers have a favorable road to close out the season with Baltimore and Cleveland left on the schedule, so passing this major test was a crucial step.

Considering Pittsburgh's offense has put up at least 30 points in six straight games, boasting arguably the NFL's best playmaker at wide receiver, this is a team no one will want to play when January rolls around.

Postgame Reaction

Known for his stoic persona on the sidelines, Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin started his postgame press conference by saying, "That was fun, wasn't it?" per ESPN's Jeremy Fowler. 

Moving to the subject of his star wide receiver, per the Steelers' official Twitter account, Tomlin said he wasn't surprised by what Brown did Sunday:

Also from the team's official Twitter account, Roethlisberger didn't need to elaborate on what Brown did for the Steelers:

Pittsburgh running back DeAngelo Williams used Twitter to give praise to an impressive defensive turnaround:

On the other side of the spectrum, per Troy Renck of the Denver Post, Broncos head coach Gary Kubiak summed up the difference in the game: "We took advantage of every opportunity in first half. We didn't make any plays in second half."

Per the Broncos' official Twitter account, Kubiak said the most important thing following his team's second straight loss will be finding out if his team will "learn from it." There were positive signs early this week, so it's at least something to carry forward.

When the subject of Manning came up, per the Broncos' official Twitter account, Kubiak could only say his quarterback was "working his tail off to get back on the field."