5 reasons the Pittsburgh Steelers are going to win against the Denver Broncos in their week 2 match up

Injuries have been holding Denver’s defense back from being elite in recent years, aside from Von Miller, the injury to AJ Bouye is the most impactful to their defense in week 2.

Make no mistake, Denver has quality depth in the secondary. AJ Bouye is by far their best CB and the loss of him is going to create matchups in the secondary that the Steelers are going to look to exploit. The Broncos still have Bryce Callahan, who is likely to match up often with Ju Ju in the slot. He is talented and injuries held him back in 2019. In 2018 Callahan dominated opposing wide receivers in the slot for Chicago and his presence will be needed. Ju Ju found the end zone twice in week 1.

Aside from Callahan expect to see a pair of rookies in Michael Ojemudia and Essang Bassey on the field quite a lot. They both played well in week 1, especially considering neither of them had any preseason games. They didn’t look out of place and did not seem to slow down the defense. They allowed a couple of plays to happen between the two of them, but they did not look like two guys who had never played an NFL game before.

The rookies are going to have to step up big. The Steelers are definitely more talented than the Titans at wide receiver. Furthermore, Ben is going to test them frequently. If Ben gets time to throw, look for him to throw in their direction and let his wide receivers make plays. I don’t think either of them have the skills to match with Diontae Johnson consistently in terms of the way he runs his routes. James Washington looked really strong in limited action and if the Steelers decide to give him more opportunity in week 2 then I expect him to play very physically with this secondary, in particular these rookie corners.