Steelers rally to beat Broncos

And that was not a good thing for Denver, because after going 19-of-28 for 194 yards, no touchdowns and a pick in the first half, Roethlisberger caught fire, throwing three touchdowns in the second half, and seeing his interception with just over two minutes left in the game rendered irrelevant by Denver’s offensive incompetence.

After going 14-of-18 for 218 yards and three touchdowns in the first half, Brock Osweiler was just 7-of-22 for 82 yards and an interception in the second, but head coach Gary Kubiak made it clear that there was plenty of blame to go around.

Former Steelers wide receiver Emmanuel Sanders ran through them in the first half and they even forgot to cover him on a 61-yard touchdown catch in the first quarter. However, the Broncos can secure a first-round bye without any outside help.

Placekicker Chris Boswell was a flawless two-for-two in field goals scored and successfully made all four point-after kicks.

That tied it up 7-7 with 4:41 left in the quarter. He’s had several during his time with the Broncos, and Sanders had 181 yards receiving (and one touchdown) against his old team in Week 15. You give that quarterback that many opportunities, sooner or later he is going to make you pay.

Texans 16, Colts 10 – Third-string quarterback Brandon Weeden threw a go-ahead 8-yard TD pass to Jaelen Strong with 10:36 to play, giving Houston a crucial road victory.

Brown did get the better of Harris, but football is not a game decided by individual matchups. In the first half against the Steelers, the Broncos were ideal on third down. That left the offense to Weeden, who was cut by Dallas in November.

Sure seemed that way after their whirling, Terrible Towel-twirling, and possibly unnerving (for AFC contenders) 34-27 win over the Denver Broncos at Heinz Field.

MINNEAPOLIS >> Teddy Bridgewater threw a career-high four touchdowns and ran for another, and the Vikings took a big step toward clinching playoff spot.

Deone Bucannon returned Sam Bradford’s interception 39 yards for a touchdown to give Arizona a 37-10 lead early in the fourth quarter, sending fans to the exits.

The Steelers have a 75 percent chance to make the playoffs according to the New York Times playoff simulator. Roethlisberger’s 72.7 completion percentage for the game represented the fourth time that the 12-year veteran has impressively been north of 70 percent accuracy in a game this season, and he’s now collected seven touchdown passes over two of the last three weeks. He may be the Jerry Rice of this new generation. Baldwin also became the third wide receiver since 1960 with four straight games with multiple TD catches.

As Andy Dalton watched from the sideline with a large cast over his broken right thumb, McCarron threw a 20-yard touchdown pass to Tyler Kroft just before halftime as the Bengals (11-3) forced three second-quarter turnovers by San Francisco (4-10) to take command. A Chiefs win and a Jets loss would secure a playoff spot for the Chiefs.

-Kirk Cousins, Redskins, equaled his career high with four touchdown passes and ran 13 yards for another score, helping Washington win consecutive games for the first time in more than a year and stay atop the NFC East by beating Buffalo 35-25.

The unstoppable force of Malik Jackson opened the drive with another sack on Ben Roethlisberger for a nine yard loss.

Osweiler was 21 of 44 passing for 296 yards and was intercepted once.

The Bills (6-8) will miss the postseason for the 16th year in a row, the longest active drought in the NFL. Harris was livid. The week before, the Raiders scored the winning touchdown when safety Shiloh Keo blew coverage. Denver falls to 10-4.

Michael Weinreb is the author of Season of Saturdays: A History of College Football in 14 Games, now out in paperback. However, he returned to toss a 16-yard touchdown pass to John Brown and finished 20 of 32 for 274 yards. Jaksonville (5-9) lost ground in the muddled AFC South and were all but eliminated in the division race.

The unit ranks in the bottom half of the league in scoring and yards, leaving many to question whether the Broncos can succeed in the playoffs.