The Pittsburgh Steelers lead at the half, 10-0 after a field goal by Chris Boswell. The 10-0 score doesn’t paint the appropriate picture of how dominant the Steelers have been in this game. The Denver Broncos have accomplished very little on offense, and the Steelers have mostly been beating themselves on offense.
The Steelers have 13 first downs to the Broncos’ 3. It is never good to let a team hang around when you are otherwise dominating the game.
The tackle rotation didn’t end very well for Broderick Jones. He entered the game and promptly killed an impressive drive with three penalties before being pulled for Troy Fautanu.
The Steelers will get the ball back at the beginning of the first half with a chance to make it a three-possession game.
The Steelers had to settle for a field goal at the end of the half because of a controversial call. George Pickens has been getting robbed of yards and touchdowns left and right over the first two weeks of the season.
START OF 3RD QUARTER
1st and 10, Najee Harris off right tackle for 3 yards. 2nd and 7, Fields complete to Pat Freiermuth for 9 yards.
1st and 10, Cordarrelle Patterson off right tackle for no gain. 2nd and 10, Fields incomplete with nobody in the area. 3rd and 10, Fields incomplete to George Pickens. Corliss Waitman’s punt went 58 yards into the end zone. He is booting it, but failing to pin them inside the 20.
1st and 10, Javonte Williams up the middle for 5 yards. 2nd and 5, complete to Sutton for 4 yards, but illegal formation on the Broncos erased the play. 2nd and 10, Bo Nix complete to Josh Reynolds for 9 yards. Patrick Queen shaken up a bit on the play, but he may have just had the wind knocked out of him. 3rd and 1, DeShon Elliott into the backfield for a huge TFL. Another three-and-out drive for the Broncos’ offense. The punt went 47 yards, and Calvin Austin III returned it for a loss of 4.
1st and 10, Harris up the middle for no gain. 2nd and 10, Fields complete to Van Jefferson for 2 yards. 3rd and 8, Fields deep incompletion to Jefferson. It was overthrown a bit by Fields, but Jefferson was covered up pretty well.
Waitman’s punt went 49 yards. Holding called on the Broncos to back them up further.
1st and 10, Cameron Heyward tackled Williams for a gain of 3. Denver called a timeout. 2nd and 7, Nick incomplete to Greg Dulcich with pressure in his face by Larry Ogunjobi. 3rd and 7, complete to Courtland Sutton for a first down. Holding called on Joey Porter Jr, but it was declined.
1st and 10, trick play to Josh Reynolds for a 49-yard gain. They couldn’t get much going, so they went to the bag of tricks for a spark. Donte Jackson was injured on the play. Cory Trice Jr. in for him at outside corner.
1st and goal, Williams up the middle for 1 yard. 2nd and goal, Trice intercepted the pass in the end zone. The trick play was erased just like that. The spark didn’t catch fire.
1st and 10, Fields incomplete to Pickens deep to the right, but a big pass interference on Pat Surtain. A gain of 37 on the penalty.
1st and 10, Warren up the middle for 2 yards. 2nd and 8, complete to Freiermuth for 5 yards. 3rd and 3, Warren up the middle for 1 yard. Boswell is going out for the field goal and he nails the 53-yard attempt. 13-0 Steelers.
Jackson checked back in after a brief injury. 1st and 10, Jackson makes his presence known with a TFL. Nix took a deep shot to Mims on 2nd down, but it was was overthrown. 3rd and 11, Beanie Bishop Jr. made the tackle on a Nix scramble to kill the drive.
The punt went 58 yards and Austin returned it 11 yards. The Steelers have another long field to battle.
1st and 10, Najee Harris up the middle for 9 yards. 2nd and 1, Harris off left tackle to convert, but holding on Connor Heyward. 2nd and 11, Fields scrambled for a loss of 2. 3rd and 12, Fields incomplete to Calvin Austin III. The punt went 52 yards and a holding penalty backs the Broncos up further.
1st and 10, Nix complete to Williams for 8 yards. 2nd and 2, Isaiahh Loudermilk made the tackle after a gain of 3.
1st and 10, deep incompletion to Nate Adkins. It went off his hands.
END OF 3RD QUARTER 13-0 STEELERS
2nd and 10, incomplete to Courtland Sutton. Offsides wiped out the play. 2nd and 5, Patrick Queen tripped up Jaleel McLaughlin for a gain of 18.
1st and 10, Nick Herbig was very blatantly held or he would have had a sack. 1st and 20, Keeanu Benton tackled the screen for no gain. 2nd and 20, Dulcich dropped the pass over the middle. 3rd and 20, Nix complete to Williams for 14 yards. 4th and 6, Nix complete to Reynolds over the middle for 22 yards. He was wide open.
1st and 10, Williams off right tackle for 2 yards. 2nd and 8, Nix complete to Tyler Badie for 2 yards. 3rd and 6, incomplete to Sutton over the middle, nearly intercepted by Beanie Bishop Jr. after a deflection at the line. Wil Lutz good from 35 yards out. 13-3 Steelers.
Jaylen Warren muffed the kickoff, but managed to get back to the 14-yard line.
1st and 10, Fields incomplete to Pickens. 2nd and 10, Patterson off right tackle for 3 yards. 3rd and 7, Fields complete to Austin for 8 yards to convert. Dan Moore Jr. called for holding to wipe out the conversion. It has been raining penalty flags in Denver. 3rd and 16, Warren up the middle for 12 to buy room to punt. The punt went 51 yards and was returned just 2.
1st and 10, Nix threw the ball away under pressure by Alex Highsmith. Two penalties on the play, offsetting. 1st and 10, Nix incomplete to Dulcich over the middle. That is at least three drops for him today. 2nd and 10, another penalty after Nix threw the ball away. Offsetting again. 2nd and 10, Highsmith called for neutral zone infraction. 2nd and 5, Watt and Elliott tackled Williams for a loss. 3rd and 8, incomplete pass over the middle with Watt getting a QB hit on the play.
The punt went 54 yards and Austin returned it 6.
1st and 10, Najee Harris up the middle for 2 yards. 2nd and 8, Harris up the middle for 5 yards. 3rd and 3, incomplete to Austin, but it looks like it may have been a defenseless receiver call. It was helmet to helmet, but Austin appears to be okay.
1st and 10, Harris up the middle for 2 yards. 2nd and 8, Fields scrambled for 3 yards. 3rd and 5, the snap came out early and was fumbled. Jaylen Warren scooped it up to prevent a disaster. Waitman’s punt went 56 yards for another touchback.
1st and 10, Nix complete to Dulcich for 9 yards. 2nd and 1, Nix scrambled for 2 yards up the middle.
1st and 10, complete to Lil’Jordan Humphrey for 27 yards, eventually brought down by Minkah Fitzpatrick. Donte Jackson was banged up again on the play.
1st and 10, complete to Humphrey for 13 yards over the middle. They are eating up a lot of clock, but marching down the field.
1st and 10, Williams screen pass for 13 yards.
1st and 10, Nix designed run for 5 yards. 2nd and 5, Nix incomplete to Dulcich with Elliott in coverage. 3rd and 5, Porter nearly picked it off. Multiple injured Broncos O-linemen on the play.
TWO MINUTE WARNING
The field goal is good. 13-6 Steelers.
The Broncos elected to kick off rather than attempt an onside kick.
1st and 10, Harris up the middle for 2 yards. The Broncos used their final timeout. One first down ends the game. 2nd and 8, Harris off right tackle for 4 yards. Timeout called by the Steelers with 1 second left on the play clock. 3rd and 4, Fields scrambled for no gain. The Steelers will bleed the clock to 18 seconds before calling a timeout and punting.
Corliss Waitman’s punt was pinned in the corner and great coverage by Ben Skowronek.
Nine seconds and no timeouts. One or maybe two plays for the Broncos. 1st and 10, a lateral play and they managed to get out of bounds with one second left after a gain of 13. The final play was intercepted by Damontae Kazee.
FINAL SCORE 13-6 STEELERS
