Broncos Play Great Escape

Some Cinderfellas named Bubby and-- Merril? --stole the show, but the Broncos reached into their bag of tricks and stole the game. The roar you heard late Sunday afternoon wasn’t applause, it was Broncomaniacs sighing.

Young quarterback Bubby Brister and little-known fullback Merril Hoge led the Pittsburgh Steelers into leads of 10-0, 17-7 and 23-17, but guess which embattled Bronco rallied his team?

Right, John Elway, completing his most lackluster season since he was an NFL toddler. He threw a 36-yard, flea-flicker pass to Vance Johnson, setting up a 71-yard, fourth-quarter drive and a one-yard touchdown plunge by Melvin Bratton that let the Broncos slip past the Steelers, 24-23.

The Broncos advance to the AFC championship, where, for the third time in four years, they will play the Cleveland Browns.

Forgive the Broncos, they were too relieved to celebrate.

“We have a lot of young guys,” Elway said. “Maybe they didn’t realize the magnitude of this game, but they will now.”

Were the Broncos flat, or did they just get flattened? Coach Chuck Noll said, jokingly--or was he?--that Pittsburgh “wanted to destroy the Denver myth.”

Which myth was that?

“We ran the ball, right?” Noll asked. “They said it was impossible.”

For most of Sunday, the myth was dead. The Steelers, last in the NFL in offense, had 175 yards rushing and 404 total. The Broncos, who hadn’t allowed 100 yards rushing to a back all season, gave up 100 to Hoge by halftime.

Hoge (pronounced Hodge, or if you’re a Bronco, Mr. Hodge) finished with 120. He also caught eight passes for 60 yards. “He was almost like a one-man offense,” Noll said.

Brister, the country boy from Monroe La., who had spent most of the season handing off and threw an NFL-low 10 touchdown passes, threw for 229 yards. The Steelers converted nine of 15 third downs against the league’s No. 3 defense.

By halftime, Pittsburgh was ahead, 17-10.

“It was very scary,” said safety Dennis Smith. “Especially that first half.

“We knew if we couldn’t stop those big backs from running the ball, we were gonna have a long day. The first half, not only did we not stop them, we couldn’t find a way to stop them on third down. And we’re supposed to be the best in the league on third down. We couldn’t get off the field. And that kinda wore us down.”

Said defensive coordinator Wade Phillips: “I look at it as one of those games when we just weren’t home.

“A lot of times we knew what they were running, knew Hoge was running the ball, and he still made yardage. He’s tough, too, because we hit him some licks and I thought he was gonna go out and he didn’t. He’s a physical back ‘cause we hit as good as anybody.

“I just thought it took us a long time to be able to come up with something. You get in certain games where it doesn’t matter what you call. You can call everything in the world and nothing works. We kinda went through the gamut that first half. We came back the second half and said, ‘We’re gonna simplify it. We’re not gonna do as much, but we gotta do it better.’

“And that’s basically what we did.”

Trailing 17-7, the Broncos got the first break of the second half when nose tackle Greg Kragen crunched Tim Worley, who fumbled the ball. The Broncos recovered at the Pittsburgh 37.

On the next play, Elway went back to pass, looked left persuading Steeler free safety Thomas Everett to go that way, then came back to the right and found Johnson alone in the end zone to tie the game.

It was time for the young Steelers to come unglued, right?

At his own 20, at the closed end of Mile High Stadium with Broncomaniacs jumping up and down for maximum din, Brister hit Hoge for 19 yards. The Steelers drove to the Bronco 18, stalled, and called on Gary Anderson to kick a 35-yard field goal for a 20-17 lead.

On the next Bronco possession Elway fired a pass over Clarence Kay’s head and into Everett’s belly. Everett returned it 26 yards to the Denver 48.

The Steelers drove to the 14, stalled, and called on Anderson again. He knocked through a 32-yard field goal, making him 6 of 6 in the playoffs.

The Steelers led, 23-17. They had controlled the ball 29:23 to the Broncos’ 15:44.

But midway through the fourth quarter, the Broncos found themselves with a second-and-short situation at their 38.

Elway handed off to tailback Bobby Humphrey up the middle, who screeched to a halt, pivoted and tossed the ball back to Elway, who looked downfield for Johnson.

Everett and Dwayne Woodruff, the cornerback, had Johnson “bracketed”--played to the left and right.

But Johnson who was supposed to go deep, bent the pattern to the sideline and used his sprinter’s speed to beat the Steelers across the field. Elway, with plenty of time, hit Johnson for a 36-yard gain to the Pittsburgh 26.

“You know, that’s Denver,” Everett said. “They’re gonna try stuff like that.

“Vance just did a good job. We had him bracketed and he just broke away on us. He really flattened it out. I don’t think he was supposed to run that route, but he sensed what was up and he ran away from us.”

Finally, the Steelers sagged. Two runs by Humphrey produced a first down at the 14. Two more produced another at the 2.

From there it took three plays; on the third, Bratton hammered over and it was about to be 24-23.

The last Steeler possession resulted in two incompletions, a low center snap out of the shotgun formation and a Brister fumble that Denver recovered. The emotional Brister slammed his helmet into the turf. The Broncos ran out the last 2:02 and live to fight another day.

“Well, you know I hope we did show them,” Brister said. “The guys on HBO said we didn’t have a chance in hell to win. What’s-his-name, Nick Buoniconti, I’d like to tell him where to go. But we didn’t, so he’s partially right.”

The clock struck 12 on this fairy tale.

In orange and bluedom, it goes as a wake-up call.

AFC Notes

Dennis Smith, on John Elway: “I told him, ‘You’re still the man.’ No matter what you guys (the press) say. We know who the man is. He showed us today.” . . . Merril Hoge, 6-foot-2, 230-pounds, is a tenth-round pick from Idaho State in 1987. In his last three games, he gained 90, 100 and 120 yards--his top three totals of the season. . . . Rookie Carnell Lake, the UCLA linebacker-turned-Steeler safety, got into several late arguments with Bobby Humphrey. “I guess he was getting excited because they were about to win,” Lake said. “It was just a matter of pride at that point. You know, I’m not going to let him talk a lot of trash, especially when we’re losing. I was just trying to hit him as hard as I could and tell him, ‘Yeah, I’m here. Keep coming my way. Build my statistics.’ ”

Steelers center Dermontti Dawson was exhausted and missed the last series, so it was his sub, Chuck Lanza, who got off the low snap that Bubby Brister fumbled. Brister may also have looked away, trying to get a receiver in motion or calling signals. . . . Smith, on the Browns: “I expect Kevin Mack to be licking his chops, the way we played the run today.”