That has been my concern since we signed him: Not that he is <100%, but that our substandard line cannot keep him that way. They did a bang up job though, against a scary pass rush. The huddle was definitely not working early, but it was the first game of the season, the first game in two seasons for Manning, so hopefully the butterflies are settled now. If our D had not been so awful on third down that would have been a real beat down because, yes, after the first quarter we scored on every single drive except the kneel downs that ended each half. Not only that, but we reached the endzone on all but one of them. Had our defense not allowed the Steelers three 7 minute scoring drives the Broncos would probably still be putting points on the board.

It was weird; I went into the game expecting the D to play well (and except for third down, they did) but worried Mannings career might be over by half time.

Instead, our back up right guard and scrub center and left guard kept Mannings jersey clean, but the D could not get off the field on third and long. Fortunately for us, the Steelers dropped a lot of passes, and Roethlisberger simply did not see Mike Wallace open deep on a 3rd and 3 play in the fourth quarter, allowing us to extend out lead to six points intead of being down by four. Then of course the pick six sealed it, but 31-19 does not reflect how close that game was until the two minute warning, and when we have Peyton Manning scoring TDs on every drive but one it should be a blowout (in fact, Denver knows that better than perhaps anyone; Peyton doing that to us, especially in the playoffs, is why we traded for Clinton Portis and Champ Bailey, then spent our top three picks on cornerbacks.)