Kubiak steered Broncos through lots of troubled waters

Revenge game? The Chiefs defeated the Patriots 41-14 on national cable TV in Week 4 of the 2014 season, and the future of Tom Brady and Bill Belichick were openly questioned.

Whenever the Seahawks visit the Rams next season, Carroll likely will be back in the stadium where he had so much success as the coach at USC.

The Pittsburgh offense will turn to third-stringer Fitzgerald Toussaint at running back and will have to hope Martavis Bryant can function as a No. 1 wideout like Brown would, albeit probably on shorter, more predictable routes with Big Ben injured.

Kubiak said he’d inherited a Denver Broncos team with too big of a gap between the first- and second-stringers when he took over from ousted John Fox.

“They are very good at what they do”, Steelers offensive coordinator Todd Haley said.

Well, it appears we shall find out how this game plays out on Sunday.

The “No Fly Zone” awaits in Denver this weekend, though the Broncos remain wary even with Brown no longer in the mix. So there you go, last week 4 road teams, this week 0 road teams win. “There’s no difference…. I certainly am glad to be available to play and looking forward to being out there”. It doesn’t sound like they will allow it to be a distraction.

“That’d be fun. It won’t quite feel like home, because we’ll be in the visitors’ locker room, but that’ll be fun to be there”, Carroll said this week after the Rams relocation to Los Angeles was approved by National Football League owners. “… If I’ve got confidence watching work [Friday], we’ll go with our usual two”. “We’ll just stay focused on what we do best”. WR Demaryius Thomas had a 72-yard catch-and-run TD against the Chargers (a 5-yard catch and a 67-yard run) and beat the Steelers with a similar 80-yard score in overtime in the 2011 postseason. Look for Peyton Manning to come out tomorrow with something to prove, as the playoffs are (somewhat) like a tryout for next year’s starting quarterback. “I’m going forward to being out there on Sunday, that’s for sure”.

The Denver Broncos will host the Pittsburgh Steelers in the divisional round of playoffs this Sunday.

Katina Smith was released from federal prison last summer when President Barack Obama commuted her sentence on drug trafficking charges. Lastly, Denver’s receivers will need to break open quickly and often because Pittsburgh’s game plan will be to stop the running game first.

2-year-old Avalyn knows her Panthers players. “It’d mean a lot for her to see my first game live”.

NOTES OLB Von Miller and G Robert Myers Jr. were sent home sick before practice…. “I needed that time in order to get healthy certain parts of my body”.

He was back on the field on Thursday, however, and feeling good. “You can’t put regular gas in a Ferrari”, Vonnie Football declared. “I learned that yesterday”.

Osweiler has consistently said throught he week that “I’ll be ready to go”. He attempted the fewest number of passes (30) of any divisional game, but he connected on 22 of them for 304 yards, three touchdowns and no interceptions.

“It was like, OK he wants me to step up my game and be able to help out the team”.

And Ryan Harris moved over from right tackle to fill in when Denver lost two left tackles. The quarterback is officially questionable with a sprained right shoulder but threw the ball well in practice on Friday, according to teammates.

“We thought we’d do a little bit today”, Kubiak said.

Hopefully Sunday’s matchup between these AFC rivals will produce the kind of high drama that people will be talking about for years to come.

Osweiler worked on the side with strength and conditioning coach Luke Richesson on Wednesday while rookie Trevor Siemian split snaps with Manning.

“He’s still sore”, Kubiak said.

The Steelers (10-6) suffered a double dose of bad injury news on Friday with their leading receiver, Antonio Brown (concussion), and leading rusher DeAngelo Williams (foot) ruled out for the game. Denver is a touchdown favorite against Pittsburgh.

Brock Osweiler didn’t participate because of a knee injury. But they do have several guys that they’re working in there. At 39 and coming off an injury that sidelined him for six of the last seven games, Manning’s overall effectiveness remains to be seen. We all know what a challenge it is.