broncos! >> go pittsburgh! >> go broncos! >> i second that. >> i third that. happy orange friday, everybody. today is a day to celebrate all looking ahead to sunday's playoff steelers. >> we are the broncos station and we're here to get you set for the big game. so 9news anchors gary shapiro and corey rose are live at sports authority field at mile the early.

where there is a lot of bronco spirit. firestone is the site of today's bronco magnet giveaway. we will get to that in just a minute. first, a little after 6:00. breaking news to tell us about. a person was shot in the leg during a carjacking near sheridan boulevard and kentucky avenue. this all happened about 3:30 this morning. as of now denver police have a vague description of the two suspects involved, but they do have a vehicle description. they are looking for the victim's car, a white chevy silverado with the license plate number qeu389. if you see the car, call denver police. do not approach it. all right. good morning everybody. happy orange friday. we are all decked out getting ready for the big game. we are going to get to our broncos coverage in a minute. first we want to get prepared for the day ahead. >> that's right. it's a friday. amelia will give us a look at the commute. first. meteorologist marty coniglio is here. today is when we see the weather take a turn?

a couple of good turns for us because we are going to dial down the wind later in the day, which is great. it was excessive yesterday. we will bring light snow later. half-inch of snow or less. we are getting moderate snow in the northern and central mountains already. some decent snow reported overnight. winter park 4 inches of new snow. loveland 3. 2 at copper and a- basin. aspen a couple of inches of new snow. down south a little bit less. haven't seen any new snow reported in the southwestern resorts yet. that's gonna pick up through the night. snow is gonna continue to pour in the mountains through the day, spread down south. our friends in the san juans will get some snow. and our snow comes late this afternoon. it really breaks off through northern colorado, weld county, and to the east. so really good mountain snow with 5 to 10 inches of snow. for us we are going to be

snow generally less than .5- inch here. northern colorado less than 1 inch. on the plains slightly higher snow amounts. amelia, i guess anybody traveling east tonight might have to look out after dark. snow flying around, hard to see. >> absolutely. as we start off our friday drive, leading into what's sure to be a very exciting weekend, 25 speeds on the high side. 10 minutes along the north end stretch from 36 down to 25. 470 now between the south side of town to the west as well as the east looking great. eight easy minutes on that stretch. 25 and parker on the light side. a stalled out semi truck eastbound i-70 four miles west of vail. in the next update, we will detail the broncos pep rally that starts at 11:00 this morning downtown around civic center park. tarhonda, those details coming up in a few. >> looking forward to it. >> i forgot about that.

orange. after a break, the broncos playoff fever as you can tell is in full swing. this sunday we play host to the pittsburgh steelers. >> and gary shapiro and corey rose are counsel on the field at mile high this morning. guys, it's time to start getting excited. the road to what we hope will be the super bowl starts through denver. >> that's right. we are already pumped up. tailgating two days early. don't judge us. we grabbed the best seats. >> i wish. >> we are so excited about the game on sunday and we definitely have you covered on sunday. "game day live" starts at 9:00 in the morning sunday right here on 9news. of course, kickoff at 2:40. >> then after the game win or lose we will be in the locker room as always. we have a special edition of 9news at 5 on sun. it's gonna run from 5 to 7:00 at the night. so we hope you join us especially after we win to get reaction of the coaches and the players. you know, it's kind of a mixed bag for the broncos when it

the broncos have a history of kind of struggling in the home games anyway. since the nfl went to the current playoff format, the broncos have earned first round byes and home divisional game seven different times. denver has lost three of those games, including the devastating loss to jacksonville in 1996 that we remember. maybe remember even more the infamous double overtime loss to the ravens in 2012. everybody thought we had that game in the bag. >> right. i wish we could forget that. emmanuel sanders going up against his former team. he spent four seasons in the steel city after pittsburgh selected him third round of the 2010 draft. he might not have too many friends remaining on the team. back in 2014, he irked some of his former teammates when he called peyton manning a better leader than ben roethlisberger.

lines is the health of quarterback ben roethlisberger. he suffered torn ligaments the in his throwing shoulder. it happened during the playoffs win overtime bengals. he reentered the game, but he had trouble throwing more than 15 yards down the field. that could be an advantage for the broncos secondary who won't have to worry about the ball flying over their heads. he hasn't practiced most of this week, but is still expected to he is a tough player. >> he is a tough player. >> all right. lots of great little scenarios that we're gonna be watching on you sunday. how is peyton manning going to do after being injured? how is big ben going to be doing? emmanuel sanders, d.t. has some records to set. sheryl is giving away magnets. cheryl, you have a crowd up there that i can't believe they stood in line so long. >> reporter: it's crazy. this entire store is full. good thing the fire department is here to make sure we are not over capacity.

they have been waiting for this moment. craig has been here since 2 a.m. it's time to give this man a magnet. here we go. yeah! >> [cheers and applause]. >> reporter: let the giveaway begin. we have an 'normous crowd here. they have been fantastic. the only thing maybe more popular is a ticket to the game itself. denver police do have a warning about that. anybody wanting to try to buy a last-minute broncos ticket, be careful when you are shopping around. police are suggesting do not buy them from places like craigslist. instead, use official ticket exchanges. they warn if you choose to use anything official and you get a fake ticket, you will not get your money back. a number of people have been victims to these scams. police are looking for two suspects in this type of crime. if you recognize them, call the number on your screen. broncos tickets are available, but they are going to cost you. on stubhub, some tickets going

but we have found others costing almost 9,000. according to vivid seats, the match-up between the broncos and steelers has the highest median ticket price of all this weekend's playoff games. that's $410. back here live in firestone at the king soopers for the giveaway where they have started handing out the magnets, the first folks came here at 2 in the morning. they have been waiting ever since. they are dressed in their jerseys. they have got their hats on. they're ready to go. they have been such good sports waiting today. this line has been incredible. it was wind through six different aisles, and people are in such a good mood for the morning. those are morning people. good morning. how are you? how are you? nice to meet you. okay. i don't know about this guy. there. be able to give that guy a magnet.

hey, keep your pictures coming, too. we are using the hashtag earebroncos. show us the man caves. shows us any blue furniture you have got. orange walls you have got. we know you have a lot of things in your home that show your loyalty for the broncos. keep them coming. we will keep sharing them through the morning use the hashtag #wearebroncos. we are going to keep passing out magnets. we have the firefighters here helping out, greg and tarhonda. i have to tell you, it's such a fun atmosphere here. you can tell that we're getting close to the actual game because the excitement just keeps building. we are gonna give these away until we run out. i have a feeling that's going to go fast. >> and cheryl, even a tom brady fan will not bring us down. >> see? i know he wants a magnet. he is really a broncos fan. >> he is just confused. >> wear what you want. he is here for an orange and blue magnet. >> that's right. thanks. we will check back with you a little bit later. 7:10 right now. this morning we hope to learn

has crashed on the western slope. >> the emergency officials got a call about it last night. what appears to be a plane explosion. it happened about 15 miles west of meeker. witnesses say the plane revved the engine, banked twice at a high altitude, and exploded. searchers have been finding evidence of the plane. they found the plane wing, part of a propeller, and a tire. the search for the rest of the plane and people who were on board will resume later on this morning. air traffic control says the plane was flying from salt lake city to granby and it could have been carrying up to six people. this morning students at legend high school are mourning the loss of one of their own. last night a teenage boy fell through the ice and died. parker police say he was underwater for more than 35 minutes and he died a few hours after he was rescued. rescue teams pulled out two other boys from that same pond. it's near meadow wood lane east of parker road. authorities say the teen who out. parker mayor mike wade posted on

in critical condition at children's hospital. he says the third teen has been released from the hospital. wade also said grief counselors and victims advocates will be available to students at that school today. still gusty, especially up at rocky mountain metro. sky9 is waiting to take off. the wind is between 30 and 40 miles per hour. the highest gusts we have right now. we will see those slack off during the day. partly cloudy for us most of the day. late this afternoon i'd say after three start to get some light snow showers here. i still put us in that less than half-inch category. we are gonna start getting that light snow off the foothills by late this afternoon and early evening. notice how the echoes are a little bit better off to the east. i think we will have a better chance of piling up snow hudson, keensburg and brush, fort morgan and strasburg. coming up the entire martin

moving into the mountains, really good snow anticipated for today and tomorrow through mountain areas. we'll get additional snow sunday and another round of snow on monday. it's gonna be really good in the mountains for the next several days. i will have details in 10 minutes. teens, 20s, 30s eastern colorado. above zero in many areas except for the san luis valley. partly cloudy here most of the day. snow picking up on the continental divide in the morning. snow moves out late this afternoon. around sunset or slightly after. up and down i-25 not a lot of snow. really looks like we have a better band of snow moving off to the east. so again we are gonna show

better snow amounts to our east and around here i'm gonna put us at a half-inch or less and a few snow showers. 1-3 in the foothills. really good know a-- snow along and west of the continental divide. we are looking at temperatures in the 30s to near 40 around here today. statewide snow continuing out of the west. we are going to have temperatures in the 20s and 30s in the mountains. 30s and 40s for eastern colorado. light snow showers today. less than half-inch of snow after 3:00. those wrap up early tonight. down here on the plains with temperatures in the 30s tomorrow, 40s sunday, close to 50 for the martin luther king holiday on monday. something to look forward to. yes. we are gonna have a great start to our denver drive and a lot going on around the city.

alameda a light commute. a few brake lights being tapped. for the most part a light start across the whole city. the mayor determined today is orange friday, and that means the broncos pep rally takes place at 11:00 a.m. today along bannock between 14th and colfax. if you are headed down to pep rally, have a great time. parking's gonna be tough. you need to use that city parking and in the area we will see those temporary closures from 11:00 to 1:00 when they all wrap up later on this morning. >> and that's a busy area. so people watch out for that or maybe get out of your car and go to the pep rally. >> oh, yeah. >> thank you. the national western stock show into the second weekend with record crowds this season and there is still just so much to see. you could spend all day, all weekend there. >> fun to get out there. vida urbonas is at the stock show early this morning with a look at some beautiful horses, understand? >> reporter: beautiful horses, yes.

that's jag back there being vacuumed right now and primmed and proper behind us. this is jason goodman. he is with the draft horses out of fort collins. so much goes into getting these guys just gorgeous? >> yes. we actually do 30 performances counting the parade downtown. every day before the performances there is a routine we go through. the vacuuming, grooming, braiding, harnessing to get these boys ready. >> reporter: they are so tall. i am looking up in his eye. it looks like he wants to kiss me or something else. i don't know. he is absolutely adorable. >> tough is 18, 2 hands tall. he was 2,000 pounds. he is the right-hand wheel horse of the hitch. >> reporter: what can people expect? there is so much work that goes into this, the horses are on display the entire time. rodeo.

you can see them pulling the wagon like they used to do. awesome team. >> reporter: amazing. thank you so. we are gonna touch base more with you three out the weekend. we will be back out here tomorrow checking out these guys. greg and tarhonda, beautiful. tough right here. i feel like i want to kiss him. >> yeah. >> maybe save that for off camera. >> no. i pay you five bucks if you do it right now. beautiful animals for sure. there we go. >> this we go. he almost kissed you back. after the break, some of our biggest news stories of the day.

we have learned in the last 10 minutes that a debris field from a military helicopter crash has been now spotted off the coast of hawaii. the "associated press" reports two marine helicopters did collide off the coast of o'ahu north shore. the coast guard is responding. no word of the condition of the crew. we will update this story as the search is going on and we get some more updated information. it is now 6:21. an alert clear creek county deputy is credited with rescuing two young children in georgetown. michigan state police issued an amber alert for three and four-year-olds who they believe were abduct bid their father alex perez. this is him. they think they were abducted last night.

he is accused of double homicide back in michigan. a deputy spotted a suspicious vehicle. he called it in and found out about the amber alert. perez was arrested. the kids are in police custody and doing fine. well, tomorrow you can have a chance to remember the last known medal of honor rip cent of world war ii. a memorial service will be held at 2:00 for him at heritage christian center. that's in aurora tomorrow. the public is invited to attend a great tribute to him. we can all give a final farewell. >> absolutely. thank him and his family for their service. >> absolutely. do you consider yourself a big broncos fan? if so, how deep does your commitment and dedication truly run? >> i think we have got some big broncos fans for sure. one local family took their

we'll tell you about this after the break. first though let's talk weather and traffic. >> good morning. snow pouring into the mountains today. the day. we will get our little taste of snow this afternoon again with the eastern plains doing better than we will. focusing on the mountains, look at it, five to ten inches of snow by tomorrow morning. in the valleys grant county two to six. two to five around glenwood springs and carbondale. vail area up north six to 12 inches of new snow. also some snow down in the san juans with four to seven inches of new snow. so it may be tempting to go into the mountains this weekend. folks ought to be ready for the winter driving conditions as we like to say. >> all right. let's get out to the maps where we are seeing still a very quiet friday light commute in the city. however, out to the west side we are seeing some slight troubles across i-70. today we'll see the closures around the civic center park because of the broncos pep

on this orange friday. it kicks off at 11. i mentioned a stalled out semi blocking one lane of traffic

to my grown son. i love him dearly and he is at work. >> reporter: so many great broncos fans. we have had so many here already. firestone. easy. we have a lot of fans for some, and even fans here -- you can't team. you are convincing me with that you fit well in a grocery cart. a house that is fantastic showing their broncos pride.

painted orange ahead of the playoff game this weekend. they were rewarded for their loyalty to the team. they got tickets to the broncos-steelers game this weekend. they are right on the 50-yard-line. sometimes it pays to have incredible paint in your house. i have to introduce you to this couple, gary and corey, because you reunited after 53 degrees. you have known each other since first grade. you come to get a magnet and find each other? >> exactly. we were standing in line and we got to visiting and one conversation led to another. we hadn't seen each other in 53 years. we went to school together. lived in gilcrest. >> graduated class of 1953. or '63 from valley high school. >> reporter: 9news and the denver broncos and magnets bringing friends back together after half a century. isn't that awesome, gary and corey?

>> that is amazing. oh, my goodness. love that. and cheryl, we are so cold out here. we think you should be standing in the frozen food section to have a little sympathy for us. >> reporter: do you want me to go in the meat locker to make you feel better? >> yes. >> that would be good. >> she is in the bakery and we're out here. cheryl, thank you. so wide receiver demaryius thomas is really hoping that his mom will be at the game on sunday. she has never seen him play. >> this is one of the cool stories we are going to be watching on sunday. we've talked about it before. d.t.'s mom katina smith, she has been in jail since the year 2000. has never seen him play live in the nfl. she was in jail for her involvement in a crack cocaine ring. now, his mother once again never seen him play. but in july president obama commuted the sentence for 46 non-violent drug offenders, including thomas' mother. she has been staying at a georgia halfway house in

couldn't travel for 60 days. that is over. now she is allowed to travel and she is going to be coming to colorado to see her son play. >> it means a lot, you know. her first game. i will be excited. i know she will be excited. it means a lot to see the first game live. >> so exciting. so his mom had originally been scheduled to be released in 2017. his grandmother received a life sentence for that crime and remains in prison. but it will be a huge game for him and his mom. it will be so neat she gets to see him play. it's gonna be a big game on sunday for many reasons. >> as we have talked about, he has never been shy about talking about that situation. so i'm very excited for him. coming up after the break we are going to break down the game. also, a whole bunch of awesome guests on the show.

approximate. go broncos! woo! go broncos! >> i'd like to say pizza delivery guy by nighttime. >> happy friday. happy orange friday. live from sports authority field this morning getting you so pumped up and ready for this sunday's big game. everything you need to know

and we have got a whole bunch of great guests. ron zappolo just walked in. we will get his take in a few minutes. >> and we are live at the firestone king soopers with the help of the frederick firestone fire department. we are handing out magnets this morning. there are a couple hundred magnets left. so come on down and see us here in firestone. >> we are celebrating here in the studio wearing our orange for orange friday. i am tarhonda thomas with gregg moss. first we want to get you ready for the day ahead. >> amelia has a look at the current traffic situation. and marty, the forecast. we got a little snow today returning, what, this afternoon? >> this afternoon and this evening. tiny, tiny bit around here. looks better east of here for the evening and in the foothills. we getting some snow reported in meeker right now. snow's beginning to move into the mountain areas. above zero in the northern and central mountains. the overnight clouds have helped with that.

it's gonna go through the day in mountain areas. a pretty calm day going for us, relatively speaking, until 2, 3:00. we will start to see snow showers move off. i think they will be minimal around here. it continues to be windy in the west and northwest sides of the metro area. that wind is gonna die down later in the day. if you are thinking in terms of snow, i still think we're less than half an inch around the metro area. less than one inch in northern colorado. one to three in the foothills. hudson, keensburg to fort morgan and eastern adams and arapahoe county, anywhere from a trace to up to 2 inches of snow. most of this falling between 4:00 and 8:00 tonight and then beginning to die down. we are gonna have the forecast for the game and take you all the way through the holiday weekend in just a few moments. but we got to get outside and good morning. we are hoping for that big blazing orange sunrise out there this morning. right now the drive at 225 and parker not too bad.

connecting your aurora commute with dtc. we're also checking clear on the travel times. up north 36 to e-470 ten easy minutes. this is friday light. and c-470 awesome conditions east and westbound this morning. as we get out to the maps, keep in mind you've got that pep rally at 11:00 this morning. civic center park is the place. wear your orange. show up at 11. if you are trying to get around that area, keep in mind the closure extend across bannock between 14th and colfax. gregg and tarhonda. >> there is nothing better than a good denver pep rally, don't you think? >> yeah. well, it's all part of an orange friday. today that is been declared that day. we celebrate the broncos getting ready to host the steelers in the afc divisional game. that's happening, of course, i think it's on sunday. >> you think? you know, i feel like a tangerine.

we wanted to get the celebration started early, like two days early. we sent gary shapiro and corey rose out to sports authority field. you look great with that green behind you. are you ready for the game? >> um-hmm. >> doesn't the field look nice? >> we are ready for the game. we are feeling claustrophobic in the office. we decided to come out where we have a little more room. >> a little colder. >> other than that, all right, welcome to the stadium. we are getting ready for the game on sunday. it's gonna be a big day on sunday, of course, and it starts at 9:00 in the morning on channel with "game day live" and then the kickoff is at, what, 2:40 in the afternoon. >> 2:40. after the game, of course, we have a special edition of 9news at 5:00. that's sunday evening. our coverage will extend all the way until 7:00. we're gonna be live from the broncos locker room with reaction from the team, win or lose, or just win, because that's what we're going for, right? 5 p.m. sunday right here on 9news. >> all right.

kind of a mixed bag against the pittsburgh steelers. all time in the regular season, the broncos are 14-8-1 against pittsburgh with one of those losses of course, coming a couple of weeks ago. for the eighth all-time post-season meeting between the two clubs. denver leads that playoff series 4-3. soon to be 5-3, we hope, including 3-2 record at home. >> we are on the same wavelength. they aren't huge fans of each other. the game last month featured plenty of chippiness. brandon mcmahon us ran downfield on the opening kickoff and pushed a pittsburgh player. then started a shoving match. some more extracurricular activity later on. the heated exchanges didn't the help the broncos as they did collapse in the second half. >> yeah, they did. but when the kicker gets involved in a fight on the field, you know it's kind of a

>> this isn't hockey, people. >> nothing like that bengals-pittsburgh game. nevertheless, there will be some chippiness i'm sure. we have been giving away these united and orange broncos magnets all week. and thousands of people have been lining up in, you know, in the middle of the night, which boggles the mind. >> getting there at 1:00 in the morning. cheryl preheim is live in firestone at a king soopers there. people were lining up so early, cheryl. you have already given away so many? >> reporter: so many. the first person was in line at 2 a.m. today. y'all have your magnets? >> [cheers and applause]. >> reporter: we have a steady stream coming throughout we have a few magnets left. we are at the king soopers in firestone off i-25 east of i- 25. come on down and see us. first come, first serve. the stack is getting much smaller as we speak. hey, there is a lot of people who would love to get a ticket to the weekend's game, of course.

for anyone who is trying to do that. just make sure you get it from a reputable place. you know, the want to get tickets really testing some people's loyalty because they are high dollar commodities right now. we asked a couple broncos fans, would you dare, would you dare sideline your ticket to a steelers fan if they asked? >> no! >> it's kind of a little bit of a mix. but probably not. it's a playoff game. it's a big-time deal. they need all the home fans they need. they need a lot of support. >> the amount of work that the broncos put in, you can't just sell them out from underneath themselves. that's not fair. >> if it was my seats, i am going. it's gonna be a great game. >> reporter: i would not miss that game. we did a very unscientific and unofficial twitter poll. 60% of broncos fans who responded said they would not sell their tickets to a known steelers fan. 14% said they'd consider it. 29% said only if it was more than $1,000 a ticket.

profit for that. fans who plan on driving to the game, parking in on-site stadium spots primarily reserved for season ticket holders. some spaces go for 20 to $30. get there early. parking lot c opens at 8 a.m. for early tailgating. other lots open at 9:40. plenty of off-site parking for you like at pepsi center, the downtown aquarium, the auraria campus. those anywhere from 10 to $15. from rtd's broncos ride to valet biking, there is a lot of options to get to the game. so 9news traffic reporter amelia earhart has it sorted out for you with some resources to get you there. >> if you are one of the over 76,000 fans that got tickets to this sunday's playoff game at 2:40, congratulations. but here's what that means. you along with everybody else have to get right here to the game, and that is a guaranteed traffic jam.

ways to get to the stadium. loads of broncos fans will be using uber this sunday to get the game. so let's talk fare split and surge prices with uber cm will mccollum. >> it's a fearture within the app. hit that butt and split the ride with your friend. all they have to do is accept on their site. select a surge price notifier and it will let you know as the price comes down when you can select the ride. >> reporter: did you know that you can also take the platte valley trolley all the way to the game? for seven dollars round trip fare you begin at confluence park and go all the way to the stadium on this beauty right here. >> best way to pay for the trolley is bring cash. $7 round trip. $5 one way. tickets in the ticket booth in confluence park. we will give you change, give you a ticket, and get a ride on board the trolley, head up to the game. >> reporter: because the weather is forecast be mild and dry on sunday, you may want to use your bike to get to the stadium and lock it up once you get there.

or just take a b-cycle to get to the game on time. clerk out our website 9news.com. we have got a full resource guide for all the top nine ways for you to get to the game. >> all right. amelia, thanks so much. come on through. we got a whole 'nother crew here for magnets. thank you for coming out. thank you, thank you, thank you. thank you for coming out. appreciate that. a great crowd here. a thousand magnets. we have a few left. it's first come, first serve. come to firestone. and if you really are a broncos fan, we're you understanding that you also have things in your house representing that. you don't just have a few things? >> no, a whole bronco room. >> reporter: you too? >> man cave. >> reporter: we want to see pictures of those. use the hashtag #wearebroncos. keep those pictures coming. people are stepping it up a notch. you don't just fly a flag outside the house. you decorate the inside of your house.

'nother level. all right. so we have a few magnets left. we are here live at the king soopers. we have this many magnets left. we will be here until they are out. a great crowd this morning. it's been so much fun. >> not that many magnets. thanks, cheryl. 6:23. let's look at the news making headlines right now. denver police spent the night searching an area looking for two suspects from the air and on the ground. police tried to make a traffic stop about midnight when all of this started. the car fled with the driver and the driver who fled with the -- his suspect inside to the area of humboldt and bayaud. police found a suspect. the other is still on the loose. a former commerce city police officer accused of faking his own shooting is expected to face a judge today. investigators say kevin lord claimed someone shot him in the chest during a traffic stop in november. well, that triggered a statewide search for a suspect.

and accused of shooting himself. he now faces felony charges. he also lost his job. let's go now live to space, shall we? two astronauts in the middle of a spacewalk this morning. american tim kopra and tim peake from britain are working to repair a broken voltage regulator. it's expected to take six hours or so. we will check in on their progress through the morning. but the pictures going back and forth between mission control and the space station, marty, always fascinating. >> it's so cool. not only the fact that we can do it and we can watch it live. mid 20s around here. low 30s by 10:00 a.m. not a big warm-up today. we are going to hold in the 30s today. really light snow showers late this afternoon. still talking less than half an inch. snow continues to pour in the mountains. gonna be nice, impressive snow

area, 5-10 inches tomorrow morning. less in the valleys and the colorado river valley generally 2-5, 2-6 inches of snow. elk mountains into the grand mesa 6-12. similar amounts up around the rabbit ears pass area slightly less snow in the sawatch range and the san juans. still not bad when you're talking about 6-7 inches of snow. you know what? more snow's coming the mountains sunday and again on monday. they're doing pretty well. >> it's gonna be a busy weekend for them. >> resorts are loving it. a good start to the season. thank you. people celebrate the broncos in all sorts of ways. tattoos, colored hair, tutus. you name it. >> that is your tutu, right? >> well, a local school came up with a really fun way to

all right. you know what? i have broncos fever. you need a little more broncos team coverage. we have got that for you. let's help you out by sending it back to sports authority field. gary, corey, and ron zappolo in the house ready to kick off on sunday. >> oh, yeah. we are getting so pumped. we wanted to bring ron in to give us his take on the game on sunday. always nice to have him here. before we get ron, we have to talk about some other stuff? >> yeah, ron will agree, one of the big stories is peyton manning on sunday. how is he going to do? would only help further cement peyton manning's place in nfl history. he has 11 career post-season wins. one more would put his past troy aikman and his opponent this week ben roethlisberger.

wins by a quarterback, manning is 11-13 all time in the post-season. >> demaryius thomas is a great game away from a bunch of broncos post-season records. right now he has 46 catches for 699 yards and 6 touchdowns in his post-season career. he needs 4 receptions to pass rod smith for the most in broncos post-season history. he needs 162 receiving yards to pass smith, and just one receiving touchdown to pass him for the all-time broncos record as well. speaking of demaryius, when you think about the steelers and the broncos' rivalry, they probably -- this is a game that really comes to mind. we are gonna talk about the tim tebow walk-off back in the 2012 playoffs. how can we forget? in overtime tebow hooked up with d.t. for the 80-yard touchdown pass. an incredible game. >> emmanuel sanders said he didn't know that happened. he was getting ready to go back in. they said, the game's over. >> you know what the problem with that game is?

there were two games against important. in 1977, their first playoff game ever they beat the pittsburgh steelers 34-21 on their way to the super bowl. 20 years later in 1997, the revenge tour where they won at pittsburgh. that is the game where shannon fas. won that game. on wait to the bowl. >> looking back to the game we played against the steelers. of course, we lost. looking at that game, what do the broncos have to do this sunday? >> that's a good question. i don't know that that game has any bearing, corey, on this game. i do think this. we were sitting here a year ago, okay? and the broncos were in the same he position playing this game at home. what happened a year ago? okay. the head coach was looking for another job. both coordinators were looking for other jobs. a bunch of players wanted to get paid and they got embarrassed because they were looking ahead to the new england patriots.

screaming quote from john elway. this game here, the broncos' defense sunday has to, has to play better than they played in that game. they tackled atrociously in that game. i am convinced they will play better. but that game has so little to do, even though it was so close. you got peyton manning playing instead of brock osweiler. you had a healthy antonio brown who caught 60 60 pass 190 yards and two scores. antonio brown is compromised. i don't see how the steelers can win the game unless the broncos help them win the game. turn the ball over three or four times. don't run the ball at all. >> or four or five times. >> play horribly on defense. unless they do all those things, guys, i don't see how denver can figure out a way to lose this game. >> that is amazing. it was a couple of weeks ago. like you said, two different teams.

>> ron is gonna stay with us. he will join us on channel 20 in the 7 a.m. hour. thank you for coming in and freezing with us. we appreciate it. cheryl is in firestone. she's giving away those united and orange magnets. >> reporter: a few left. they are going fast. come on through. we have a line at the king soopers in firestone. we appreciate everybody getting up early to get their magnets. i want to introduce you to chris. how old are you? >> eight years old. >> reporter: you didn't mind getting up at 5 a.m.? >> no way. >> reporter: that magnet was worth it? >> yep. >> reporter: tell me why. >> we are really big fans and we had to get one. and even though it was a school day, we got up and it was worth a try. so we got it. >> reporter: if you're sleepy, tell your teacher that cheryl on channel says it was worth being a little sleepy and you will study extra over the weekend.

>> reporter: thanks, chris. this afternoon, we'll be in englewood. the locations are on 9news.com. the kids at pioneer elementary school in parker are fantastic. this might be the most unique way we have seen to raise bronco spirit. they have been raise these chickens and they dressed them up for the broncos playoff game. we love the way you're showing your broncos pride. hey, you know, it's great to eat when you eat -- when you, you know, watch a football game. if you need great recipes for the playoff game this weekend, fix this is gonna take care of u they will have great recipes, pulled pork, salsa. joins and we will give you some great recipes. the magnet giveaway continues. people running down the aisle. we will be here for as long as we have magnets.

there a huge storm. enough for 5-10 inches of snow around winter park and summit county tomorrow morning. 6-12 vail pass to the elk mountains. grand mesa area and rabbit ears pass, a little bit less in the san juans. temperatures this morning above zero everywhere except in the san luis valley. clear skies there. partly cloudy to start the day. snow starts moving off the foothills early this afternoon. again the better snow showers will be from hudson, keensburg, and bennet to the east. so we could see an inch or two

around here it's less than half ap and a half. an inch or two for most foothills locations. the wind we have this morning in the foothills is gonna die down this afternoon. 30s for our highs odd. 20s and 30s in the foothills. snow will just continue to pour into the mountains through the day and then we'll start to see a little impulse of energy move over the front range, and especially eastern plains tonight just after sunset through 9 or 10:00 tonight. 30s here. 30s north. a little warmer down south with 20s and 30s in the mountains and west. again 37 today. snow showers. less than half-inch of snow. not a big deal for us. ends early. tomorrow's a cool day, but a dry day. dry on sunday, though we will have a couple of snowflakes flying around in the foothills. martin luther king day looks great on monday and we stay mild through the middle of the week. amelia, a couple seconds on channel 20 we will be talking about the nine-day outlook. let's take a look at the

avenue today. golden and lakewood, nine minutes. a stall blocking up the drive across westbound 76 on the approach to highway 85. maybe an additional five or six minutes on your drive coming from the north and east. downtown today at 11:00 a.m. the broncos pep rally takes place along bannock between 14th and colfax. as we head outside we want you to know, yes, it's gonna be a sunny one. sunrise takes place at 7:19. check out that camera. westbound across i-70, guys, a new stall and a crash blocking that far left lane at holly. >> oh, man. that is horrible. >> thank you. we are wearing or orange and it's gonna be a good day. join us on channel 20. we will have your news, weather, traffic and our team coverage of orange friday. >> of course, cheryl will have more on our orange broncos magnet giveaway.

with a special send-off. yeah. our buddies. >> woo-hoo! >> we finally found somebody who can stay warm out here. miles. >> i am very jealous. >> got that fur thing going on. lots more coming up on channel 20 for the 9news special broncos preview live from the stadium. for now, congratulations. you made it through the week. this is not real.