Denver Broncos: Attacking Steelers OL is crucial

One of the keys to a potential Denver Broncos victory in week 2 is attacking the offensive line of the Steelers.

When an opportunity comes your way in the NFL, you need to take advantage of it. The Denver Broncos face the Pittsburgh Steelers on Sunday against an offensive line that isn’t at its fullest.

The Steelers will be without both of their starting guards on Sunday, David DeCastro and Stefan Wisniewski. This will open up opportunities for interior guys to feed and get to the backfield—hopefully to Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger.

Also gone for the Steelers is their starting right tackle, Zach Banner.

So that’s three starting offensive linemen out for Pittsburgh.

Broncos outside linebackers Jeremiah Attaochu, Bradley Chubb, and Malik Reed need to take advantage of this depleted Steelers offensive line.

Ben Roethlisberger is 3-6 all-time against the Broncos. He has been sacked 27 times in nine prior games against Denver. This may be a key more than ever to becoming victorious against the Steelers this year.

Roethlisberger is 38-years old and nearing father time as it relates to the NFL. If the Broncos are going to get another win against him, it has to be this week. I strongly believe that the Broncos’ pass rushers are going to dominate in this game, thanks to Pittsburgh’s offensive line issues.

Roethlisberger has had trouble winning against the Broncos, and Denver always finds a way to bring him down to the ground.

Along with the offensive line issues the Steelers have, some key offensive players on the Steelers showed up on the injury report one day this week: wide receivers Juju Smith-Schuster (knee) and Diontae Johnson (toe), as well as running back James Connor (ankle).

All of those players participated fully in practice over the last two days but having a knee, toe, or ankle injury is not something to take lightly. I’m not pretending to know the extents of these injuries but they could come back at any time.