I mentioned yesterday how amazed I was at the huge number of Steelers fans at the stadium. If my estimate of 20% Pittsburgh fans was correct, that would mean that there were around 15,000 people waving Terrible Towels in the stadium of 76,125 people. This also means that there were around 61,000 Denver fans present, and let me tell you, that many people make a LOT of noise! I've only been to one other NFL game in my life (at Heinz Field in Pittsburgh in 2001), so maybe this much noise is normal, but I was just astounded at how loud the crowd got on 3rd downs! You could certainly hear the 15,000 Steelers fans cheer throughout the stadium, but when those Bronco fans needed to be loud, it felt like the entire stadium was shaking, which was pretty darn freaky when you're in the second row from the top! I tried to capture the intense noise on video:
Okay, so it's not exactly the same as being there.
Despite the crazy loud Broncos fans, the Steelers were able to drive down the field and score on their very first drive, which definitely silenced the crowd a bit. The rest of the first half was all Denver, with some costly turnovers by Big Ben leading to 21 unanswered points by the Broncos. In the third quarter, the Steelers were able to score their second touchdown, but they also allowed the Broncos to score, so they were still down by 14. In an amazing fourth period, the Steelers scored two more touchdowns to tie the game with only 1:10 remaining in regulation. Immediately, Chad made the comment that they'd scored too early, leaving too much time on the clock, and he was absolutely right. Denver QB Jay Cutler drove the team right down the field, and future hall of fame kicker Jason Elam booted a 49 yard field goal with one second on the clock to win it. Uff da. Of course, that was my very simple synopsis of the game. For a more professional write up, you can check the Denver Post.
Obviously, even though the outcome wasn't what we'd hoped for, we certainly couldn't deny that the game was exciting--down to the last second! Chad had kind of suspected that the Steelers would lose, since statistically speaking, the team with a bye the previous week usually wins. That made the loss not quite so disappointing for him, and of course, KU's victory the day before helped as well. All in all, it was loads of fun, and the weather didn't even turn out to be that bad despite the snowstorm earlier in the day! There were a few flurries a couple of times during the game, but the wind wasn't blowing very hard at all, which definitely saved us from freezing our tails off.
One highlight of the game (that wasn't actually part of the game at all) was the halftime show. This consisted of about 30 elementary school football players from the local Boys & Girls Club scrimmaging against a bunch of different NFL mascots. It was so funny--it totally reminded me of the Laff-A-Lympics cartoon from my childhood. The little kids were trying so hard to play an organized game of football, and yet the mascots were cheating their tails off in order to win. Some of the mascots were the inflatable type mascots with a person inside, and the funniest thing was Arizona Cardinals "air" mascot that was like 8 feet tall would line up opposite some tiny forth grader and start pecking him in the head over and over again before the ball was hiked. As the mascots' cheating got more blatant, the kids started adding more and more players to the team, until there was at least 30 little kids in full pads running around the field trying to tackle adults in mascot outfits. It was so hilarious, although I'm sure my description just isn't doing it justice! I tried to get a few pictures (which you can view along with all the rest of our pictures from the game) so you could at least get an idea of what I was talking about, but I'm sure it probably looks and sounds pretty lame. You'll just have to take my word for it that we were laughing hysterically! Oh, and because I'm sure you want to know, the little kids ended up winning. :)
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