4 takeaways from Pittsburgh Steelers win over Denver Broncos

The Pittsburgh Steelers came away with the win over the Denver Broncos in Week 2. Here are my takeaways from the 26-21 win at Heinz Field.

The Pittsburgh Steelers secured their second straight win to kick off the 2020 season, but it didn’t come as easy as fans may have expected. No matter how bad Mike Tomlin’s team seems to dominate their opponents, the outcomes always seem closer than they need to be.

While the Steelers pulled out a 26-21 win, there was a lot of good to take away from this game. However, a few big mistakes in the second half nearly cost Pittsburgh the game. Here are my takeaways from Pittsburgh’s Week 2 win over the Denver Broncos:

T.J. Watt is utterly dominant

This isn’t something that is completely new, but I continued to find my eyes gravitating towards T.J. Watt on every snap. The Steelers star defender earned 2.5 sacks, 2 tackles for a loss, and 4 quarterback hits in this contest, but his box score numbers don’t do his play justice.

Watt took on the brunt of Bronco double-teams, yet it didn’t seem to slow him down at all. On numerous occasions, he tore up the backfield and shifted the play – allowing a teammate to cash in for the sack. If he keeps this up, he’s on the fast track to Defensive Player of the Year honors in 2020.

Steelers have some ball security issues

Ball security issues aren’t exclusive to just the Pittsburgh Steelers, but it wasn’t promising to see the same players make the same mistakes in back-to-back games. After both Diontae Johnson and Benny Snell coughed the ball up in Week 1, the same players let the ball come lose again against the Broncos – losing one during key moments late in the game.

Snell had a very good first game against the Giants, and Johnson is clearly going to be a threat to opposing defenses for quite some time. However, if they continue to have issues in this department, it will eventually come back to bite the Steelers.

The referees could have cost Pittsburgh the game

I’m never a writer who wants to pass the blame onto the officiating, but some poor calls nearly cost the Steelers the game against the Broncos in Week 2. Without fail, the flags would fly on pivotal third downs when Pittsburgh needed to get Denver’s offense off the field.

One particularly bad call was the pass interference called against linebacker Devin Bush. Bush lunged to try to deflect the ball without making contact with the offensive player but was still called for a big pass interference penalty late in the game. Again, this was no excuse for some of the things Pittsburgh did wrong, but having 10 penalties for 89 yards compared to 4 for 30 yards against the Broncos seems a little lopsided.

Steelers young weapons are on the rise

The Steelers have several young weapons worth mentioning after the win. While many of these come on the defensive side of the ball, Pittsburgh’s skill players are off to a very good start. Ben Roethlisberger connected with rookie Chase Claypool for an 84-yard touchdown in the second quarter, and he’s clearly favorited Diontae Johnson in the early going.

Though Johnson had a big third-down drop and the early fumble, he still managed to catch 8 of 13 targets for 92 yards and a touchdown. He’s extremely slippery with the ball in his hands, and will no doubt be a big part of the offense this year.

The Steelers didn’t play anything near a perfect game in Week 2. Fortunately, they are undefeated in the early going and some of these issues should decrease as the season goes on.