It wasn’t pretty, but the Pittsburgh Steelers found a way to grind out a 13-6 win over the Denver Broncos Sunday on the road, improving to 2-0 on the young season, all while playing backup quarterback Justin Fields.
In that win over the Broncos, the Steelers did what they normally do. Run the football, avoid the killer turnover, play great defense and take the football away, leading to low-scoring games that the Steelers largely control and end up on the right side of things in the end.
For the second week in a row, that was the case for Mike Tomlin’s team. This week, it led to a “B” grade from CBS Sports’ John Breech, who stated that the Steelers have “perfected the art of winning ugly” in the process.
“When you put a Mike Tomlin defense up against a rookie quarterback, the Steelers tend to dominate and that’s exactly what happened in this game. The defense suffocated Bo Nix: The Broncos had 11 possessions and seven of those ended with a three-and-out or an interception,” Breech writes of the Steelers, handing out his grade to the Black and Gold. “The Steelers offense wasn’t flashy, but Najee Harris and Jaylen Warren kept things humming along by combining to average more than 4 yards per carry.
“Over the past few years, no team has perfected the art of winning ugly quite like the Steelers and they continued that trend with this victory in Denver.”
That is quite accurate from Breech. In recent years, the Steelers have found ways time and time again to win low-scoring, ugly games. It’s not luck at this point, either. It’s a trait for the Steelers, and it works during the regular season.
The Steelers are built around a star-studded defense led by the pass rush in T.J. Watt, Alex Highsmith and Cameron Heyward, not to mention All-Pro safety Minkah Fitzpatrick on the back end. They limit opposing offenses, keep everything in front of them, and take the football away.
That was again the case on Sunday as the Steelers really put the clamps on Denver’s offense with two interceptions and multiple sacks against rookie quarterback Bo Nix, and got enough out of their own offense — which had to overcome a ton of penalties — to pick up the win.
It’s not exactly how many teams in today’s NFL draw things up, but for the Steelers, it’s a formula that works, at least during the regular season. It’s not everyone’s cup of tea, but the Steelers are comfortable playing that style, and are doing the most important thing weekly: winning football games.
There are no style points awarded. All that matters is getting a win. The Steelers have embraced that.
