Steelers Scouting: Fields Says Refs Altered Game Plan

The Pittsburgh Steelers gave the Denver Broncos a different look than the Atlanta Falcons saw in Week 1.

On Sunday, the Steelers were more aggressive and more dynamic – as much as a unit can be in a 13-6 win . It wasn’t by accident.

However, facing star cornerback Patrick Surtain II meant that receiver George Pickens would be largely taken out of the team’s plans.

That didn’t stop quarterback Justin Fields from testing Denver downfield.

Pittsburgh’s willingness to stretch the field was actually a matter of officiating, not personnel.

“We knew coming into this game that this crew was the most – they threw the most DPIs last year,” Fields said, via Brooke Pryor . “So we knew that coming in and that was a big kind of effect on taking those shots down field.”

It worked. Fields attempted four passes further than 15 yards downfield, but it was the ones that didn’t count that meant more to the Steelers.

On the team’s only touchdown drive of the game, receiver Van Jefferson was targeted far downfield. Cornerback Riley Moss was called for defensive pass interference, and the Steelers took the line of scrimmage from the Denver 40-yard line to the 13. Three plays later, tight end Darnell Washington found the end zone.

In the middle of the third quarter, Fields attacked Surtain, giving Pickens a chance to make a play on the ball. Another incompletion turned into another whistle – defensive pass interference on the star – moving Pittsburgh 37 yards toward the end zone. The drive would end with a 53-yard field goal.

Once more, the Steelers went downfield, and safety P.J. Locke was called for unnecessary roughness, essentially accomplishing the same goal and taking two minutes off the clock in a one-possession game.

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It’s a sound strategy, especially against an officiating crew willing to throw the yellow cloth. If the offensive player makes a play, great! If not, there’s a half-decent chance of a new set of downs anyway.

A Fields-led version of the Pittsburgh offense may never be the guns-blazing, inflated-air-yards offense he quarterbacked at times in Chicago, but measured aggression mixed with his physical talent is a recipe for success, even if it looks ugly on paper. The Steelers will take whatever the defense – and the officials – give them.