Steelers vs Broncos: Steelers hold on for victory in home opener

The Steelers running game was effective and sealed the game against the Broncos

As I have stated many times in many different ways, an effective and efficient running game usually leads to a Steelers victory.  This is how it played out against the Broncos.  As a team, we rushed for 109 yards, of which, James Conner, our fourth-year RB out of Pitt, accounted for 106 of those yards, so, in other words, Conner was the running game against the Broncos.

Make no mistake and this is something I have been talking about seemingly ‘ad nauseam’, I firmly believe the Steelers want to be a ‘power run’ team on the offensive side of the ball for one simple reason:  if you can possess the ball and chew the clock, your opponent cannot possess the ball and chew the clock.  It’s as rudimentary as that.

Granted, 59 yards of Conner’s 106 yards came on one play in the fourth quarter, but the fact that we were able to essentially run the clock out to ‘seal the deal’ speaks volumes, in my opinion.  This is exactly what the Steelers were unable to do, for the most part, last season.

It was refreshing to see the Steelers ‘patchwork’ offensive line perform the way they did.  We gave up one sack, which is one too many as far as I’m concerned, but Ben Roethlisberger, our franchise QB, threw for 311 yards, less the 10 yards lost on the aforementioned sack, and 2 TDs behind the reshuffled ‘O’-line.

Let’s see how we fared on the defensive side of the ball.