DENVER – Tebow time works overtime even during playoff time.
Broncos quarterback Tim Tebow added another chapter to his legend, hitting Demaryius Thomas with an 80-yard touchdown on the first play of overtime to give Denver a 29-23 victory in an AFC wild-card game at Sports Authority Field at Mile High..
The Broncos move on to face the Patriots on Saturday in Foxborough. Denver, an 8 ½ point underdog, controlled the game most of the way but the Steelers tied in the final minutes, sending the game to an extra period.
Tebow wasted no time putting an end to it. He hit Thomas at midfield between Ike Taylor and Ryan Mundy, and Thomas raced up the right sideline to the end zone.
The Steelers tied the game with 3:48 left on a 31-yard touchdown from Ben Roethlisberger to former Jets wide receiver Jerricho Cotchery. The game-tying drive was set up by a fumble by Broncos running back Willis McGahee at the Steelers 45. It was the Broncos’ first turnover of the day.
After a first-down sack, Roethlisberger marched the Steelers down the field with his arm and his legs. He nearly threw an interception in the end zone on the play before the touchdown but Champ Bailey could not pull it in. Then, Roethlisberger hit Cotchery in the back of the end zone to tie it up 23-23.
Cotchery, the longtime Jet, demanded to be traded or released during training camp. The Jets cut him loose, and the Steelers picked him up.
Both teams had a possession with the chance to end it in regulation, but failed to score.
The Steelers appeared dead at halftime, but scored a touchdown on their first possession of the third quarter to cast some doubt on the Broncos running away with the game. Mike Wallace scored on a 1-yard end-around that cut Denver’s lead to 20-13. The drive was aided by a bad call from the refs. Roethlisberger threw a lateral that the Broncos recovered, but the refs ruled it an incomplete pass. Denver could not challenge the play because the whistle had been blown.
The Broncos answered with a 12-play, 63-yard drive that finished with a Matt Prater 35-yard field goal to give Denver a 10-point lead with 13:10 left in the game. The Steelers cut it back down to 23-16 three minutes later with a Shaun Suisham 37-yard field goal, his third field goal of the day.
Tebow awoke in the second quarter after failing to complete a pass in the first. Tebow did not dink and dunk, either. Four of his first five passes were for 30 yards or more.
The Broncos had just eight yards in the first quarter and spotted the Steelers a 6-0 lead. It looked like Pittsburgh would roll their way to through the Broncos and into a meeting with the Patriots. Tebow gave a sign of things to come with a 20-yard pass to Eric Decker to start the second quarter, but it was overturned after being reviewed.
Tebow then chucked a beautiful pass up the left sideline to Thomas for 51 yards. That woke up the Mile High crowd, which had been lulled to sleep by the Broncos failing to gain first downs.
Two plays after the 51-yard pass, Tebow found Eddie Royal in the end zone for a 30-yard touchdown that put the Broncos up 7-6, and suddenly gave the Tebow followers reason to believe again.
On the Broncos’ next possession, Tebow again threw a deep pass, this one a 58-yard connection to Thomas that put the ball on the Steelers 12. Two plays later, Tebow scored on an 8-yard quarterback draw to make it 14-6.
Roethlisberger, playing with a high left ankle sprain, did not look like himself early in the game. He was immobile and did not get a ton of help from his receivers, who dropped multiple passes.
Roethlisberger had a miscue of his own midway through the second quarter, throwing an interception to Quinton Carter that set the Broncos up with the ball at the Steelers 18. Denver could only get three points out of it, though, settling for a 20-yard Prater field goal to stretch their lead to 17-6. Prater added another field goal just before halftime to make it 20-6.
The Broncos put up 225 yards in the second quarter after managing just eight in the first.