4 takeaways from Steelers impressive win over the Broncos
By Tommy Jaggi
The Pittsburgh Steelers took on the Denver Broncos in a must-win Week 5 contest. Here are my four biggest takeaways from the game.
Just because the Steelers were able to score an opening-drive touchdown didn’t give fans enough confidence to think that Mike Tomlin’s team would handle this game from the gate. Just last week, Pittsburgh was able to score on their first drive of the game against the Green Bay Packers before their offense fell flat.
Fortunately, this team felt like they were always in control against the Broncos in Week 5 and they held on to win 27-19. There are many things we learned from the Week 5 win. Here are my four biggest takeaways from Pittsburgh’s second victory of the season:
Steelers defense looks legit, but a few questions remain
T.J. Watt finally looked fully recovered from the groin injury he suffered in Week 2. While Pittsburgh was still missing Stephon Tuitt and Tyson Alualu (both on IR), their defense looked excellent early in this game.
In the first half against the Broncos, Pittsburgh’s defense surrendered just 56 passing yards (5.1 yards per attempt) to Teddy Bridgewater. Though they did give up a 49-yard Javonte Williams run on a bad angle from Minkah Fitzpatrick, their run defense did a solid job overall.
Unfortunately, there are still a few questions that must be answered. Pittsburgh’s gave up some really big plays in the secondary late in the contest and nearly gave the Broncos a chance to tie the game. Joe Haden allowed far too much cushion in coverage while James Pierre was beaten badly for a touchdown on a ‘go’ route for the second time this season. He later made up for his mistake with a game-sealing interception in the endzone.
Missing Cameron Sutton hurt a bit this week, but this team needs to fix a few issues in the secondary. Overall, I thought the performance of the defense as a whole was quite good, but there are still a few things to work on.