Defensive MVP
The MVP discussion is a tough one to make when the defense collectively played a “bend but don’t break” ball game. At time they missed coverages and allowed giant gains for the Steelers while at other moments they came up with game-saving plays. The most consistent player Sunday afternoon may have been veteran corner back Aqib Talib. Chris Harris Jr. was dealing with a shoulder injury that took him out of the game often and Bradley Roby looked fooled several times and missed some big tackles.
Talib finished the day with just four tackles and two passes defensed but they were all at big moments. The two passes defensed in particular both occurred in the end zone and one was on as early fourth down attempt by the Steelers. Talib covered several Steelers receivers but was impressed by one in particular.
“Martavis Bryant, that’s a great receiver. One day he is going to have a nice pay day. He’s an excellent receiver. He could easily be their No. 1 receiver, and he came out and played a great game for them. They just came up short,” Talib said from his locker.
Bryant, in Antonio Brown’s absence, caught a game-high nine passes for 154 yards but Talib held him scoreless on his one shot at a touchdown. Both end zone plays were broken up by perfectly timed pass break ups by Talib.
Honorable mention: Ware played a solid game and came up big at two critical times in the contest. He finished with three combined tackles, two for a loss, one sack and a fumble recovery. His recovered fumble represented the lone turnover in the ball game and his sack appeared with 1:56 left on the Steelers second fourth-down attempt of the game as they tried to answer directly after the Broncos took their fourth quarter lead,
