Week 2 - Steelers @ Broncos Pregame Thoughts
It felt like the Steelers really cruised through a decent Falcons team last week. Even though the final score was relatively close, the game felt entirely one-sided in favor of the Steelers. That’s good news for us, because we should absolutely be 2-0 when we head to Pittsburgh for our home opener.
Once again, Justin Fields will get the start at the quarterback position for our week two matchup @ the Denver Broncos. If you look at Fields’ tape as the starter last week, you’ll see creative, but conservative, play calling that was being well executed by him. Russell Wilson’s calf injury lingering as long as it has seemed to genuinely catch the coaching staff off guard, and Justin Fields was only named the starter about an hour before kickoff. This week, he’ll have had a full week of preparation after playing a clean game last week, which should, in theory, open up some things in the playbook. Not to mention, one of Justin Fields’ best starts as a pro came last year against the Denver Broncos, when he finished with 335 yards and 4 touchdowns. I don’t wanna sound like a broken record on the quarterback situation, but if Justin Fields goes out here and plays a good game en route to a convincing win today, he could be the starter all year long, and maybe for years to come.
As for the rest of the offense, I am curious to see what the snap count looks like for Jaylen Warren, who didn’t see the field much last week in Atlanta. Kenneth Walker III went for over a hundred yards on this Broncos defense last week, and the Broncos defensive line is fairly undersized as a whole. Najee Harris might be a nominee for Kyle Brandt’s Angry Runs again this week.
George Pickens is a real WR1, and I believe this season, he’s going to leave a trail of victims in his wake. This week’s victim? Patrick Surtain II. That’s about to be the best matchup in this game. With that being said, we need to see more from the other WRs on the team. I doubt it, but maybe we will get a Roman Wilson debut? Also, I think Pat Freiermuth gets involved heavily in this Broncos game, because they’re trash covering intermediate throws in the middle of the field.
The offensive line will see a bit of a shake-up. Broderick Jones is moving to the BENCH!?!?! It wasn’t on my 2024 season bingo card, but it is a necessary move right now. He’s too poor in his mechanics to be out there with that elbow not at full strength. Troy Fautanu will see his first NFL action as a starter at RT, and Dan Moore Jr. will start at LT. I’m not excited about benching our 2023 first round pick, basically in favor of Dan Moore, but Moore hasn’t been a liability since the second preseason game, and Broderick has. It’s really that simple. I’m thrilled that we finally get to see our 2024 first round pick, Troy Fautanu, in regular season action.
As for the defense…we all know how this is going to look, right? I mean…I don’t wanna get too cocky, because when I do that, the Steelers fall apart in all three phases. But, I am declaring this game a win with confidence, because of the complete mismatch that is the Broncos’ offense vs. the Steelers defense. I expect the Broncos to try to be run-heavy, and incorporate some QUICK passes. Our defense is faster than it has been in YEARS in terms of rallying to the ball, so as long as we’re not missing tackles, we should handle them with ease. Of course, they could do what they did last week, and have their rookie QB, Bo Nix, drop back 51 times. The Steelers pass rush would probably sack him 6+ times if they tried that again.
I’m not going to overthink this one. If this Steelers team is what I think it is, they should win this game convincingly. Vegas says the Steelers are 2.5 point favorites, which is just flat out disrespectful. I’m taking the Steelers to cover all day long. I’m trying to avoid straight up predicting wins in these posts, but I’m confident in this one. My prediction: Steelers 26 Broncos 9. We’ll head into our home opener 2-0 with Justin Fields as the starter against the Chargers.
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