What doesn’t change for Pittsburgh Steelers’ Sammie Coates with Antonio Brown out

The biggest fine went to Bengals cornerback Adam Jones, who also apologized to Steelers receiver Antonio Brown for saying Brown was faking a concussion. “He did everything we asked him to do”.

The Broncos have won eight of the last 11 meetings with the Steelers in Denver, including a 29-23 overtime victory in a wild-card game January 8, 2012 in which Thomas scored in the extra period on an 80-yard pass from Tim Tebow. Brown, who suffered a concussion, has been officially ruled out of Sunday’s divisional playoff game with the Broncos. The Broncos believe if Roethlisberger is physically able to throw to most of the field, he will be able to spread the ball around to other Steelers players like Martavis Bryant, Heath Miller and Markus Wheaton. Already without starting running back Le’Veon Bell for the rest of the season, the team recently got word that second-string running back DeAngelo Williams would also be held out of the game. Jones said Brown had winked at him while being helped off the field. “We get a lot of balls to him”, Steelers offensive coordinator Todd Haley said when asked if practice felt different without Brown.

However, Jones later followed up during an Inside the National Football League interview with New York Jets wide receiver Brandon Marshall and explained that he would apologize to Brown if he sat out this weekend’s game.

PAYBACK TIME?: The Broncos are still smarting from their 34-27 loss at Pittsburgh last month when Roethlisberger capitalized on Denver’s dearth of safeties, and Steelers center Cody Wallace speared David Bruton Jr.

Now, on the road the importance of establishing a running game early with Fitzgerald Toussaint and Jordan Todman is that much more important, especially with Roethlisberger dealing with a shoulder injury.

The Broncos (12-4) swear they won’t make the same mistake they did a year ago, either. I know he was faking it. Go back and look at the play.

The NFL announced on Monday night that Burfict has been suspended for the first three games of the 2016 season, which would cost him three game checks – $502,941. That won’t cut it this week and if they can’t establish a running game it will be a quick exit for the Steelers.

Making matters even worse, Roethlisberger will be playing with a separated shoulder and will be very limited.

The expectation is for Osweiler to be the No. 2 quarterback, behind Peyton Manning, on Sunday. Officials won’t want to see anything like last week’s game happen again.

If the Steelers playmakers do not step up on Sunday, I do not think they have a chance to win on Sunday.

Everyone in the NFL knows that Roethlisberger is one of the toughest quarterbacks in the league, and it is no surprise that he is going to attempt to play against the Broncos.