Steelers vs. Broncos: Winners and losers from big Week 5 win

Steelers loser: the run defense

I was consistently writing about how I thought that Javonte Williams was going to be a key impact player this week. While he wasn’t a game-breaker this week, he was still regularly gashing the Steelers’ run defense. Williams had just south of 90 total yards, but his 49-yard rush gave the Broncos an advantage during the game.

While Melvin Gordan wasn’t as dynamic, he was still effective at picking up some tough yards. Although, the Broncos had over 100 total rushing yards despite playing from behind for the entire game. It was a tough game for the Steelers run defense, and it is a further testament that this team is hurting on defense despite starting the season as one of the better defensive units.

While it wasn’t a deciding factor ultimately, the Steelers will have to get back to their dominant ways of stopping the run. A return for Carlos Davis should help in that regard, as the defense can pencil him into their base defense. This unit hasn’t been the same since week one, and it shows weekly as the Steelers struggle to stop the run.