Tomorrow’s matchup of the Pittsburgh Steelers vs. Denver Broncos should be a good one. Even with the storyline of QB Russell Wilson returning against his former team seemingly unlikely, the game should still be entertaining and competitive as two strong defenses face off against each other.
Right now, the Pittsburgh Steelers are the favorites to win the game after Broncos rookie QB Bo Nix looked shaky in their Week One loss to the Seattle Seahawks. Despite this, Fox Sports sports talk host Colin Cowherd sees the Broncos beating Pittsburgh 23-20 due to their personnel.
“I think Sean Payton and his guys … they may not have great personnel, but they held the Seahawks to 158 passing yards and got two turnovers,” said Cowherd on The Herd. “I’ve said all offseason: I think Denver’s personnel is better than you think.”
The Broncos’ defense got after Seattle QB Geno Smith and limited the Seahawks’ passing attack, but they did get gashed on the ground, allowing 146 rushing yards. The Steelers should be able to take advantage of that with their running back duo of Najee Harris and Jaylen Warren. Throw in QB Justin Fields’ ability to run the football and it could be a long day for the Broncos run defense.
One of the knocks Cowherd has about the Steelers is their offense and their passing game.
“Pittsburgh, by the way, their offense was 28th ranked scoring offense last season, I think it’s worse,” said Cowherd. “Justin Fields did not attempt a single pass over the middle of the field, Broncos coaches are going to see that.”
Calling the Steelers offense worse than last year is asinine. Although Pittsburgh failed to score a touchdown last week their offense looked so much better than it did last year under offensive coordinator Matt Canada. Pittsburgh controlled the time of possession and only had two three-and-outs the entire game. Those things were not happening under Canada.
And while yes, Justin Fields avoided the middle of the field in Atlanta, if Cowherd was paying attention this week, offensive coordinator Arthur Smith said that was a game plan choice by him to avoid Atlanta Falcons S Jessie Bates. I would expect the Steelers to target the middle of the field more this week. And, even if they don’t as long as Fields is not turning the football over Smith and head coach Mike Tomlin won’t care too much about him not using the middle of the field. Using the middle of the field does not equate to wins and losses on the stat sheet. While it is certainly helpful on offense and can help create explosive plays, it is not the end all be all of having a winning football team.
Pittsburgh also has a much better defense than Seattle. Seattle held the Broncos offense to 16 points. Pittsburgh should be able to keep Denver’s offense is check, especially if OLB T.J. Watt can replicate his performance from last week.
While the Steelers have struggled in Denver recently, losing their last four matchups at Mile High (including the playoffs), that is the past. Pittsburgh is not a lock to win, but to have the Broncos covering the 2.5-spread and winning as one of Cowherd’s best bets of the week is crazy. Pittsburgh looked much better than the Broncos last week. Denver is a tough place to play, but Cowherd is showing a lot of confidence in the Broncos, and a lot of ignorance surrounding the Steelers.
