Awaiting the Pittsburgh Steelers, the Denver Broncos are coming off a disappointing loss to the Seattle Seahawks. Broncos head coach Sean Payton admits that his rookie quarterback, Bo Nix, has an even greater challenge this week. They fell 26-20, surrendering 15 unanswered in the second half. And the Seahawks only allowed one nearly meaningless score in the final minutes of the game after halftime.
“Certainly the Steelers’ defensive tradition and how they performed over the years is deserving of the accolades and all the success they’ve had”, Payton said, via the Broncos’ YouTube channel. “It’s tough, it’s physical. They do a lot of things extremely well, and that’s not by accident. I think we’ll be seeing a better defense this weekend—and that’s with no disrespect at all to Seattle. It’s just a more experienced defense. That’s a better way to say it. We’ll have to make the corrections and then get ready for a good week here for a home game”.
The Seahawks had one of the greatest defenses of this millennium, though that’s feeling like a while ago. As for the Steelers, they could have one of the top units in the league this year. They were solid overall last season, but they boosted talent this year in key areas.
With stalwarts T.J. Watt, Cameron Heyward, Minkah Fitzpatrick, and Alex Highsmith, the Steelers see Joey Porter Jr., Keeanu Benton, and Nick Herbig maturing in their second seasons. To that group they added DeShon Elliott, Donte Jackson, Patrick Queen, Payton Wilson, and Beanie Bishop Jr. And let’s not forget Larry Ogunjobi and Elandon Roberts, who are no slouches, either.
In the opener, the Steelers limited the Atlanta Falcons to just 10 points, their lowest scoring output since 2010. They only allowed two third-down conversions on nine tries and 226 net yards, dominating time of possession. On top of that, they created three takeaways, and it could have been more. Donte Jackson dropped an early interception, and T.J. Watt had multiple strip-sacks negated by penalty.
No disrespect to the Seahawks, I say in my most cartoonish Italian mafia voice, but the Steelers’ defense is definitely a tougher challenge for Sean Payton, Bo Nix, and the Denver Broncos. And they may also be without one of their most important offensive players. With that said, Nix also wasn’t very good in Seattle. He finished 26-for-42 for 138 yards with two interceptions, managing just 3.3 yards per attempt.
Quite honestly, it would be hard for Nix to be worse than that against the Steelers, and he probably won’t be. A rookie only makes his NFL debut once, and he learns from it. The Steelers are also going to Denver for this one, the Broncos on the road for their opener.
