Dominant defense lifts Broncos over Steelers

DENVER – Ben Roethlisberger gave way to his backups after a quick night’s work.

Roethlisberger played just one quarter and was yanked in the middle of the Steelers’ second series Sunday in a 34-17 preseason loss to the Broncos at Invesco Field.

Dennis Dixon threw two costly interceptions. Perrish Cox picked off the first in the end zone, and Andre’ Goodman returned the second 77 yards for a touchdown with 11 seconds left in the second to give Denver a 17-3 halftime lead.

Dixon finished 9-of-16 for 94 yards. He was sacked twice by Robert Ayers.

Broncos quarterback Kyle Orton was shaken up in the first half and left the game briefly after taking a hit from James Harrison. Orton tried to make a tackle after Harrison picked up a loose ball and rumbled toward the end zone in the second quarter.

“I don’t know if I went after him or he went after me,” Orton said. “You have to try to save a touchdown, and took a pretty decent shot, yeah. Just got the wind knocked out of me. Felt pretty good afterward.”

Orton said it was obvious that Harrison went down to meet him head on.

“If that’s the way he wants to play, then that’s the way he wants to play,” Orton said.

Broncos coach Josh McDaniels stopped just short of calling Harrison’s hit a cheap shot.

“It kind of looked like Harrison knew he was going to go low, and then he took the liberty to go ahead and go after the quarterback,” McDaniels said. “Whether or not it was a cheap thing, I’m not sure. I’ll have to see it on film, but it didn’t look right.”

Harrison said it was just a smart football move.

“I was being aggressive on the play,” Harrison said. “I play aggressively. I was going to the ground and wanted to get as many yards as I could.”

While Orton was down, the officials huddled and ruled the play an incomplete pass. Brady Quinn replaced Orton and was sacked on the next snap. Orton returned to the game on the ensuing series, finishing 9-of-14 for 80 yards with one interception.

Broncos rookie quarterback Tim Tebow made his home debut after missing last week’s game with bruised ribs.

Although Tebow saved a touchdown with a tackle at the 5 on Crezdon Butler’s 40-yard interception return, Jonathan Dwyer took it in from there to cut it to 20-10 in the fourth. Tebow quickly atoned, driving the Broncos 74 yards in five plays, capped by a 3-yard touchdown pass to Eric Decker.

Charlie Batch responded to that with a touchdown drive that cut the deficit to 27-17 on Antonio Brown’s 7-yard scoring grab. But Batch’s next drive resulted in a 48-yard interception return for a touchdown by Syd’Quan Thompson. Minutes later, Thompson returned a punt 62 yards.