Pittsburgh Steelers vs the Broncos: 4 things to know about their week 2 matchup
Denver’s strong secondary
Denver lost a key piece prior to the 2020 season with Chris Harris’ departure. They would trade for AJ Bouye and the result left Denver with a very good secondary heading into 2020.
The key to Denver’s success in the secondary is the amount of talent they have across the board. They don’t have 1 elite top 3 guy. But they have a lot of good borderline great pieces. Justin Simmons for example has been trending upwards and making improvements in every season he is playing.
In the 5th season of his career, Justin Simmons has tallied 11 total interceptions per ProFootballReference. What is interesting, is that he has been trending upward in that category each season since 2017. He is a smart player and he makes a lot of plays for Denver on the back end. He is also playing on the franchise tag, so there is added incentive for him to prove he is worth the contract he failed to get this past offseason.
With the trade for AJ Bouye, the Broncos greatly lessened the impact the loss of Chris Harris would’ve had. Yet, Bouye’s night ended early against the Titans as he suffered a shoulder injury. Michael Ojemudia stepped up big against Tennessee Monday night. He started and played incredibly well. The rookie 3rd round pick might’ve had his first interception as well had there not been a roughing the passer penalty on the play. The Titans could not get AJ Brown rolling Monday night and Ojemudia was the reason.
Essang Bassey also saw some playing time. He was an undrafted rookie coming into this season. He made some plays with 5 tackles including a tackle for loss Monday night. Bryce Callahan is very talented as well, he notched 8 tackles. Kareem Jackson was also active in the game last night at SS as he made a ton of plays for that secondary. They may be young, but there is so much talent that even with Bouye and Miller out, Vangio can make this defense work against anyone.
The Pittsburgh Steelers are going to need to be careful with where they are putting the ball in the air in week 2.