The Denver Broncos will face the Pittsburgh Steelers next Sunday in the AFC Divisional round playoff game.
That's because the Steelers beat the Bengals 18-16 and the Chiefs beat the Texans 30-0 on Saturday. That left the 6-seed Steelers as the lowest seed left. They'll face the 1-seed Broncos.
The 2-seed Patriots will face the highest remaining seed -- the 5-seed Chiefs.
Interestingly, in both wild card games on Saturday, the wild card teams won their games.
The matchup
The Steelers - Broncos matchup will pit the Broncos league-leading defense against the No. 3 offense in the NFL.
Big Ben has arguably the best trio of receivers in the league in Antonio Brown, Martavis Bryant, and Markus Wheaton.
When the Broncos played the Steelers last month, the Broncos jumped out to a 27-10 lead over the Steelers behind a great first half by Brock Osweiler on December 20. Then, Big Ben brought the Steelers back with 380 yards passing and 3 TD passes. Brown had 16 catches for 189 yards and 2 touchdowns as he torched Chris Harris Jr.
The Steelers defense - that's another story. Ranked 30th in pass defense, Peyton Manning has a chance to do some damage, but the Steelers beat the Broncos already this season, and they’ve got an elite QB and receivers who make big plays. All it takes to win in a close playoff game is a big play or two.
The Steelers - Broncos play January 17 at 2:40 p.m. MT.
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