First....anyone who gives Tebow credit for the winning play is a fool. He hit the open man the play was designed to go to. Who then took off down an totally open field and stiff-armed the only guy who had a chance of getting him. Timmy didn't do it, he just threw about the easiest pass possible.
Denver won the game, but they didn't truely beat the Steelers. The injuries and missing players made this that much easier for Tebow and crew. For example, if Ryan Clark had been playing? I doubt that final pass play would've been so wide open. Had Hampton and Keisel both been sidelined by injuries before the 1st quarter ended? Well, we could assume the Steeler D would've looked all game like it did in the 1st quarter when it was pressuring Tebow and forcing 3&outs. Notice how the 2nd quarter was a huge blowup in score then almost NOTHING allowed after that for Denver? A sign of a defense suddenly having to make huge adjustments in their game, and still Denver almost didn't win.
Offensively I felt commentators were making too much of just Ben's injury. Ok, so he can't take off running down the field. He was still extending plays and doing decent. Redman did well running, but clearly Pittsburgh was hurting by not having Mendenhall to help carry some of the load, and didn't trust Clay (who has been on the team for all of about three weeks) to perform well.
Then there was the officiating...oh god...the officiating. I was having flashbacks to the '05 playoff game in Indy.
No flag for a pass interference by Denver, while Pittsburgh got nailed with an identical flag later on.
TWICE Pittsburgh receivers in defenseless positions had blatantly lunging/head-leading hits laid on them with no flag from officials. Wallace was lucky he was already bent backwards somewhat, or he likely would've suffered a major concussion.
Two horribly blatant holding calls missed on Denvers' offensive line during very long pocket plays.
A bullshit flag for roughing the passer, but it was James Harrison so that makes it ok.
ALLOWING FOX TO PICK UP HIS CHALLENGE FLAG!
Overturning a Wallace reception when no camera angle showed definitively that the ball struck the ground and camera angles showed Wallace's forearm under the ball.
I swear, this reffing crew needs to be fired immediately following this game, and be glad they were not in Pittsburgh.
And the NFL will hype Tebow all they can to try to deflect from the ugly reffing that went on. Denver will not be long in these playoffs, and I look forward to a healthy Pittsburgh getting a chance to play a fair game against them.