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

The Steelers are going to have to honor the pass more against the Broncos than they did with the Giants.

The Pittsburgh Steelers dominated while defending the run against New York in week 1. They allowed some passes to leak through, but they were focused on the run game the whole way because the Giants couldn’t stretch the field consistently. Drew Lock has a better arm than Daniel Jones and if the Steelers play the broncos the same way they played the Giants this talented receiving group is going to have a field day.

This will open up the run game a bit. The Broncos lost Phillip Lindsay to injury, and while there are mixed reports out about whether or not he will play, Melvin Gordon is going to get the majority of the snaps regardless. Gordon isn’t the talent the Barkley is, but if the Broncos get him going in the receiving game, utilizing screens, then he will definitely have a better day than Barkley.

That being said, Denver is not going to be able to run well against the black and gold. While Alualu is not the pass rusher that Hargrave was, he looked like a fantastic player in the middle against the run game. He is going to be the key to the Steelers run defense looking even better than it did last year. Having, Tuitt back and healthy, grouped with Bud Dupree makes this look like a team that Denver has no chance to run well against.

I expect better than .4 yards per carry for Melvin Gordon, but being better than putrid running the ball doesn’t necessarily make it a good performance. Just because Denver is going to run the ball better than New York did, does not mean they are going to run the ball well against the Steelers.