Feats of Strength/Airing of Grievances: Plenty of both after Steelers barely hold on to beat the Broncos

It took a few minutes to find my Steelers “Feats of Strength” file on my computer. I couldn’t remember where it was saved. It’s been a while since I’ve needed to access it. It’s been difficult to find many good things to write about after Steelers games the past three weeks.

There have been tons of grievances to air. But not much in the way of praise to hand out.

Fortunately for the purposes of this column, the Steelers’ 27-19 victory over the Denver Broncos on Sunday at Heinz Field provided plenty of both.

Feats of Strength

Opening salvo: The Steelers’ 13-game stretch without a touchdown on their opening possession was halted last week in Green Bay when Ben Roethlisberger hit Diontae Johnson for a 45-yard score.

Now they have a two-game streak of getting into the end zone on the opening drive after Roethlisberger hit Johnson for a 50-yard strike to begin the game against Denver.

A great way to start the game @_BigBen7 | @Juiceup__3 | : FOX pic.twitter.com/7H4cW61oc8

— Pittsburgh Steelers (@steelers) October 10, 2021

Via ESPN Stats & Info, Roethlisberger had only two passing touchdowns on opening drives in his previous 27 games. Now he’s done so two games in a row.

Props for Pierre: In the second quarter, Denver’s Javonte Williams ran 49 yards to the Pittsburgh 2-yard line.

He would’ve gone 51 yards for a touchdown if it wasn’t for a tremendous exhibition of effort by Steelers cornerback James Pierre, who raced downfield and tackled Williams before he could get into the end zone.

'Lil Pinball.

: FOX pic.twitter.com/cR8wTErAZL

— Denver Broncos (@Broncos) October 10, 2021

That play saved the Steelers four points as the Broncos had a bizarre series of events that prevented them from finishing off the drive with a touchdown.

Williams got up and spiked the ball in the field of play. That’s a delay of game penalty. As a result, the Broncos had to start their red zone sequence at the 7-yard line instead of the 2.

On second down, Denver quarterback Teddy Bridgewater lost 12 yards on a sack by Devin Bush. The Broncos couldn’t regroup to get a play in from the sidelines, so they burned a timeout. Then on third and “goal” from the 17, Bridgewater threw well short of the goal line, as Williams caught just a six-yard gain.

The Broncos settled for a field goal, meaning they still trailed 10-6, instead of tying the score. All because Pierre emptied the tank and never gave up on the play.

“My mindset was for the team,” Pierre said. “I saw Joe (Haden) running, so I was running. … It was a big lesson for me. On the sideline, all the older guys were excited. They were juiced. I just knew it was an important play.”

On the negative side, Pierre yielded Courtland Sutton’s 39-yard, fourth-quarter touchdown catch. Later on, though, he rebounded with a near interception on a similar attempt down the sideline and eventually made a game-sealing interception on a fourth-and-goal try with 11 seconds left.

Not today

: FOX pic.twitter.com/5j6FfFd71X

— Pittsburgh Steelers (@steelers) October 10, 2021

Third-down difference: During the three-game losing streak, coach Mike Tomlin often said his team needed to do better on possession downs. That happened Sunday at Heinz Field.

The Steelers converted seven of their first 10 third-down attempts and seven of 12 overall. That helped Tomlin’s team win the time of possession battle 33:02 to 26:58.

“We were on schedule,” Tomlin said. “If you looked at the down and distances of the conversions, they were very manageable ones.”

On the other side of the ball, the Steelers defense struggled on fourth down against the Broncos, allowing three conversions in four tries. But they stopped Denver 10 times in 12 attempts on third down.

Break ‘aht performances: Najee Harris and Chase Claypool had their best games of the season. And you can argue Roethlisberger did, too.

Before he cramped up and had to leave the game in the fourth quarter, Harris had 142 yards from scrimmage on much more meaningful touches than what he got against the Cincinnati Bengals when he had the same total in a 24-10 loss.

Claypool had five catches for a career-high 130 yards and a touchdown. A 59-yard reception was the highlight of his afternoon.

“To be able to get that chunk play, it eliminates a lot of execution needed,” Claypool said. “We did that a lot through this game. That makes everyone’s job a lot easier.”

Johnson’s 50-yard touchdown was one of those plays. Claypool had another catch for 23 yards. Harris had runs of 20 and 18 yards.

As for Roethlisberger, his 15 completions were a season low. But because the offensive line was so much better run blocking, the quarterback only had to throw 25 times. Roethlisberger’s yardage total of 253 also was modest.

However, Roethlisberger’s two touchdown passes, 10.1 yards per attempt and his passer rating of 120.9 were season bests. He also wasn’t intercepted (thanks to a few Broncos drops) and was sacked only once.

Claypool credited an improving offensive line for much of that production from all three players. He’s right. That crew has improved a lot over the last two weeks.

Keep ’em quiet: During the week, Steelers defensive coordinator Keith Butler identified Broncos tight end Noah Fant as the team’s most dangerous available pass catcher.

I question that a bit, but the defense still limited Fant to three catches on four targets for 20 yards.

It’s the fourth time in five games the Steelers contained who they deemed the opposition’s go-to receiver. Stefon Diggs (Bills), Darren Waller (Raiders) and Davante Adams (Packers) all failed to score or reach 70 yards receiving.

Granted, Tomlin said the Steelers got some help from the Broncos because they kept Fant in to block quite a bit. But when Fant did get into routes, the Steelers didn’t let him loose him.

On offense, the much-maligned line kept Denver star pass rusher Von Miller quiet. He had two tackles and no sacks or quarterback hits. In fact, aside from the strip-sack of Roethlisberger in the first half, Roethlisberger only got hit one other time.

Airing of Grievances

Big Ben’s clock: The easiest complaint is to gripe about the defense nearly letting the Broncos come back to tie late in the fourth quarter. But here’s one specific play on offense.

When Roethlisberger was strip-sacked by Malik Reed in the first quarter, by his own admission, he held onto the ball too long.

The Steelers quarterback stepped up as the pocket was collapsing on the edges as both tackles were being beaten. Roethlisberger should’ve felt that happening but held onto the ball anyway. The result was a turnover.

Yes, the Steelers offense needs to evolve beyond Roethlisberger catching the snap and throwing it as fast as humanly possible. In that instance, though, Roethlisberger should’ve gotten rid of it quicker.

Them, too: Man, the Broncos did some dumb stuff.

Hey, I always reserve the right to air a grievance about the other team when warranted.

I outlined their missteps after the Williams run. They also burned a timeout following a kickoff before their first play after the Steelers scored on the opening drive. On one play, Sutton pulled the same move Johnson did for the Steelers last week when he had first down yardage and then came back in front of the marker.

They committed seven penalties. Williams’ spike was particularly egregious. And how many times did Bridgewater throw — or attempt to throw — short of the sticks on third down? I saw at least five or six.

I also counted at least two or three chances at interceptions the Broncos defense couldn’t secure.

Maybe Broncos coach Vic Fangio should’ve spent less time complaining about the Baltimore Ravens going for that meaningless rushing record against them last week and more time focusing on his team’s execution.

What was that about?: I really didn’t understand what the Steelers were doing at the end of the first half.

After a Denver punt, the Steelers started a drive at their own 10-yard line with two timeouts and 1:31 left on the clock in the half. The Steelers seemed confused as to whether they wanted to run out the clock or try to squeeze out another score.

On a second-and-12 from the 8-yard line, Harris picked up 13 yards. On the ensuing first down snap, Roethlisberger completed a 5-yard pass to Eric Ebron and called timeout with 23 seconds left at the Steelers’ 26.

After the timeout, they just ran Kalen Ballage into the line and let the clock run out.

Why bother throwing on the previous down and calling timeout if they were just going to let the clock expire anyway? I don’t get it.

Injuries: JuJu Smith-Schuster left the game with a shoulder injury that appeared to be serious. Devin Bush has a groin injury that limited him in the second half. Harris left the game in the fourth quarter with cramps.

Depth already is being tested on this team. More injuries will be hard to absorb.

A little help?: T.J. Watt was very quiet for a second straight week. Last week, he got those two gift sacks on a trip of Aaron Rodgers and then a slide by the Packers quarterback. But even by the assessment of Butler, it wasn’t one of Watt’s best games.

Against Denver, Watt only had three tackles. A first-half tackle for loss was his only splash play.

That said, he was getting chipped and doubled by tight ends and running backs along with offensive linemen, especially toward the end of the game.

Alex Highsmith and Melvin Ingram had just one tackle each. And the entire defense had just one sack in each half. They need to do more if Watt is getting so much attention.