6 Steelers surprises in Sunday’s win against the Broncos
Each week our SCU staff and contributors pick the “surprises” from the Pittsburgh Steelers’ latest matchup. Check out more below to see which plays and situations surprised us the most!
The Pittsburgh Steelers earned their second victory of the 2024 season with a 13-6 win over the Denver Broncos on Sunday. Here are some surprises from that game.
Russell Wilson Inactive
The Russell Wilson revenge game never materialized as the Steelers’ offseason veteran acquisition was set to face his former team. The schedule makers no doubt had intentions for Wilson to square off against former head coach Sean Payton, with the two having a publicly known falling out last season.
Instead, Wilson was sidelined due to an ongoing calf injury and ruled inactive for the game. Wilson was given a “petty game ball” as his teammates rallied to win the game for him, but the experience has to be disappointing from Russ’ perspective.
Darnell Washington TD
Who had Washington as their “first Steelers touchdown” on their 2024 bingo card?
The Steelers second-year, backup tight end, capped off Pittsburgh’s first scoring drive of the afternoon. The 12-play, 78-yard drive consumed 7:34 minutes on the clock and culminated with a 3rd-and-5 from the Broncos 5-yard line.
Pittsburgh QB Justin Fields scanned his options and placed a dime into the massive Washington’s hands. It would be Washington’s first career touchdown and Fields’ first touchdown pass as a Steeler. (Watch Washington’s touchdown replay here.)
Two Minute Drill
Down 7-0 with 2:32 remaining before halftime, Broncos head coach Sean Payton made a dubious decision to go for it on 4th-and-7 with his rookie QB Bo Nix. Out at the Steelers 39, a punt may not have backed the opponent up much more, but the result of giving the ball away near midfield would haunt the coach later in the game.
Mike Tomlin expertly burned their first timeout before the play, stopping the clock at 2:32. The Steelers would shutdown the Broncos fourth down attempt and receive the ball on a turnover on down with the two-minute warning and two more timeouts in their back pocket.
Fields would execute a near-perfect drive, completing quick, short passes before going deep to WR Van Jefferson, who drew a pass interference call to get the ball down to the Denver 13-yard line. Fields would find WR George Pickens two plays later, for what would be a touchdown but was called back due to a borderline offensive pass interference call on Jefferson. (The officials ruled Jefferson’s actions as a “pick play”.)
Regardless of the TD being wiped out or not, the Steelers would still finish the half by adding points on the 7-play, 57-yard drive and went into the locker room up 10-0 at half. Those three points effectively ruined any chance Denver may have had to get the game within one score in the second half.
Fautanu Start
The big news that broke prior to kickoff was that Steelers rookie offensive tackle Troy Fautanu would start on the right side of the line in place of last year’s first round draft selection, Broderick Jones.
The reasoning for the move was that Jones, a left tackle in college, was underperforming on the opposite side.
Fautanu was drafted with the intention of playing him as a right tackle eventually, but due to injuries during training camp and a lack of playing time during the preseason, no one envisioned the rookie jumping into the starting role so early.
Broderick Jones Penalties
Jones, however, would get a chance to play in a rotation. That rotation, unfortunately, we cut short when Jones was tagged for three penalties on a single drive.
During the Steelers first possession of the second quarter, Jones would enter the game and be penalized for a false start on 3rd-and-6. Fields was able to find Pickens for a 16-yard gain on the now 3rd-and-11 play to extend the drive, nullifying the error.
The next Jones snafu would occur two plays later when he was flagged for holding. The Steelers would backup to a 1st-and-20 from their 41, before Jones was again tagged for holding two plays after that. He was ultimately pulled from the game following this play, which wiped out a 51-yard completion from Fields to Pickens.
Jones would play a total of 11 snaps in the game as Fautanu replaced him at right tackle for the duration.
Corliss Waitman
The Steelers scrambled to find a new punter in the wake of Cameron Johnston‘s season-ending injury last week. Their solution is Waitman, who punted for the Steelers twice before and had familiarity with kicker Chris Boswell as a holder. Boswell would make both of his field goal attempts Sunday, including a 53-yarder, plus a PAT.
Waitman punted eight times with a 53-yard average, and a 58-yard long. Two of his punts landed within the 20-yard line, with three ruled touchbacks. (Including one that took a huge Broncos bounce.)
It would appear Waitman was more than ready and should be a steady improvement over the inconsistent punting we witnessed from Pressley Harvin III last season.
