The Denver Broncos fell to the Steelers in Week 2, as their offense looked atrocious.
The Denver Broncos lost quarterback Drew Lock to a shoulder injury against the Steelers. Jeff Driskel came in to try to handle the game.
It did not go as the Broncos had hoped.
The Steelers brought pressure on a ton of plays, resulting in seven sacks. On an early sack, Lock landed awkwardly on injured his shoulder in the first quarter. He was ruled out with the injury.
Meanwhile, the Steelers recorded seven sacks against the Broncos. It was obvious that the Broncos offensive line just isn’t good. Plain and simple. The top story of this game was: blitz, blitz, blitz. Blitzburgh Steelers.
Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger went after Broncos rookie cornerback Michael Ojemudia all day long. He just could not stop wide receiver Diontae Johnson. Johnson caught eight passes for 92 yards and a touchdown.
However, the defensive line didn’t always get going either. Roethlisberger had soooo much time to throw.
Steelers rookie receiver Chase Claypool also had a solid day, catching three passes for 88 yards and a score.
In the run game for the Steelers, James Conner ran 16 times for 106 yards and a touchdown.
Even though the Broncos lost another close game, they were in it for the most part. It wasn’t a game that was out of reach by any means.
This loss stings even more when you find out this stat: The Steelers were 2-of-12 on third down. The Broncos had opportunities and let them get through their fingertips.
On the plus-side, the Broncos were able to put up 21 points against the Steelers. Unfortunately, that just wasn’t going to cut it at the end of the day.
Rookie wide receivers Jerry Jeudy and K.J. Hamler stepped up. Jeudy finished the day with four receptions for 62 yards while Hamler caught three passes for 48 yards. The speed of these wide receivers was on display, when the ball was able to get out of the quarterback’s hand.
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Denver Broncos offensive line exposed
As we all expected, the Steelers got the upper hand against the Broncos offensive line. At one point, the Steelers brought a blitzer on the right side where Elijah Wilkinson would have been tasked with picking him up.
That did not happen.
The quarterbacks absolutely got obliterated in this game.
It’s a tough situation when you have a backup quarterback play the majority of a game for you because they did not receive reps in practice with the starting offense. Teams just do not have the time to give backups starter reps. They can’t completely plan for an injury like Lock suffered.