Feats of Strength/Airing of Grievances: Defense, special teams win the day again as Steelers buck Broncos

As the hip kids on social media like to say when a cool sports highlight is posted, “You can hang it in the Louvre.”

When it comes to the Pittsburgh Steelers’ 13-6 win in Denver on Sunday, I’m not sure if I’d hang it on my refrigerator. It’d look bad next to the crayon-stick-figure birthday card I got from my 7-year-old niece.

But, hey, a win is a win — especially in Denver. Entering Sunday’s game, the Steelers were just 3-10 there since they pulled off that memorable playoff upset at Mile High Stadium in 1984.

Coach Mike Tomlin will gladly take it, as he will a 2-0 start to the year — especially with Baltimore and Cincinnati beginning 2024 at 0-2.

However, there’s plenty to gripe about in the wake of this result. That’s why after every Steelers victory we post “Airing of Grievances” as well as our “Feats of Strength.”

Feats of strength

Defense in Denver: For the second straight week, the defense carried the Steelers. They are 2-0 despite only scoring a total of 31 points.

Outside linebackers T.J. Watt and Alex Highsmith were good again. Both men registered a sack. Both had a pair of tackles for loss, and they combined for seven tackles.

“We’re trying to stand up and just play really sound football,” Watt said after the game on WDVE. “Before every series, we know what we are looking at. We know the potential plays that can be run. We just need to trust ourselves. We have been doing a good job of that. When our backs are against the wall, we are able to make a play.”

Denver was a combined 3 of 14 on third and fourth downs . The Broncos only averaged 5.3 yards per play. A lot of them were bloated stats on Denver’s last two possessions and a 49-yard trick play in the third quarter.

Rookie quarterback Bo Nix was limited to a passer rating of 55.2. Denver only averaged 3.4 yards per carry, and the defense grabbed two interceptions.

Most importantly, coordinator Teryl Austin’s unit only allowed two field goals.

Justin just getting it done : Justin Fields was steady. The quarterback didn’t turn the ball over. He didn’t put many throws in harm’s way.

Fields was accurate early on, completing 10 of his first 12 throws. He ended up with a 97.3 passer rating. Fields also added 27 yards rushing and threw a well-placed touchdown to Darnell Washington.

“We’ve been practicing that since OTAs. I’m glad it came to fruition. We were able to execute,” Fields said of that throw.

Fields also did a decent job of getting the ball to other receivers besides just George Pickens. There was some concern Fields may force the ball to Pickens too often as he was battling with Pro Bowler Patrick Surtain all day.

Fields didn’t do that and still kept Pickens involved. Pickens could’ve had a bigger day than he did on the stat sheet. The explosive wide receiver had a 51-yard catch eliminated thanks to a penalty, and another catch for a touchdown was wiped out, too.

We’ll get to those in a minute.

So, like last week, it was more good than bad again from Fields. That said, 117 yards passing isn’t going to be enough when the Steelers start to play better teams — like, perhaps the Los Angeles Chargers next week.

No “ second ” guessing: The new-look Steelers secondary continues to impress. After securing two interceptions and holding quarterback Kirk Cousins to 155 yards passing and a 59.0 passer rating in Atlanta last week, the back third of the Steelers’ defense flashed again in Denver.

Damontae Kazee ended the game with an interception. Cory Trice had a clutch pick in the end zone during the third quarter. It was the first of his career.

DeShon Elliott had a fantastic tackle for a loss on Javonte Williams on a third-and-1 in the third quarter. He also led the team with nine tackles on the day.

Donte Jackson blew up Williams on a short pass for a loss during the next series. That possession ended thanks to a Beanie Bishop open-field tackle on Nix to stop a third-down scramble.

Meanwhile, Joey Porter Jr. largely erased receiving target Courtland Sutton just like he did last week against Drake London. Sutton, a former Pro Bowler, had only one catch for 26 yards.

While Minkah Fitzpatrick got caught looking at the fake on Nix’s 49-yard trick pass, he did his usual job of taking away the deep middle of the defense while also supporting the run with seven tackles.

Just kickin’ it : Heading into Sunday’s game, Chris Boswell had 24 field goals of 50-plus yards under his belt since the start of 2021. That’s the most in the NFL over that time.

The Steelers kicker had three of them last week in Atlanta. He nailed one more against the Broncos. Boswell’s 53-yard field goal in the third quarter gave the Steelers a 13-0 lead.

New punter Corliss Waitman also had a good first game replacing injured free-agent signee Cameron Johnston. Waitman averaged 53 yards on eight punts, including a crucial 54-yarder at the end of the game. He also held for Boswell on his kicks.

While we are on special teams watch, let’s give a shoutout to Tyler Matakevich. He had a highlight tackle on a punt return in the fourth quarter. On Waitman’s last punt, Nick Herbig and Ben Skowronek were excellent in coverage to limit the return to 9 yards.

Airing of grievances

You can leave your hat on : This is not the kind of hat trick anyone in Pittsburgh wants to see.

Tackle Broderick Jones got one series in the first half after being pulled out of the starting lineup. While he was out there, he got three penalties and was benched in the middle of the series.

One of those flags negated the 51-yard pass from Fields to Pickens.

Troy Fautanu got the start at right tackle instead of Jones.

It wasn’t just Jones who was drawing the attention of the officials. The Steelers were popped for 10 flags for 78 yards.

“You can’t produce a sustained drive being penalized the way that we were,” Tomlin said after the game. “We’ve got some work ahead of us there. That was the most troublesome component of the game.”

Denver was penalized a bunch, too — nine times for 124 yards.

Yeah, bu t … : I’m sure we’ll spend most of the week praising the Steelers offense for putting forth a winning effort and avoiding turnovers.

Sure. That’s true. But, again, it doesn’t score enough.

Last week, the club managed to win a game without the benefit of a touchdown. This time, against a mediocre-at-best Denver team, Tomlin’s club won, scoring just one offensive touchdown.

Seven drives ended in punts. Arthur Smith’s unit failed on 9 of 13 third-down conversions. Fields only posted 5.9 yards per passing attempt. The longest completion of the day was just 16 yards. And, of course, there was another bad snap exchange.

In the second half, the offense had just 62 yards and three first downs.

Before you say it, I get it. Penalties erased the bomb to Pickens and another Pickens touchdown. But don’t commit the penalties. That’s the offense’s fault as well.

Score more points. Denver isn’t good. That was a close game in the fourth quarter. With a better offense, it wouldn’t have been.

Too close for comfort : Receiver Van Jefferson had a dicey set of snaps at the end of the first half.

On second-and-3 from the Denver 6-yard line, Jefferson was called for an offensive pass interference penalty that negated a touchdown for Pickens. CBS rules analyst Gene Steratore said he didn’t like the call because it appeared to him that the defensive backs on the play initiated the contact.

But, as Steratore also pointed out, it’s not as if there was much doubt as to what Jefferson was trying to do on the play. Jefferson made it pretty clear he intended to run a pick route, so he drew the flag whether he deserved it or not.

On the next snap, Jefferson caught a pass and let about five or six seconds expire before he got down so the team could call a timeout and kick a field goal. Time almost expired before the Steelers could get Boswell on the field.

As former Steelers coach Bill Cowher said at halftime on the CBS broadcast, it was nearly a “bonehead” mistake that could’ve cost the Steelers points.