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Steelers-Broncos: The Great Chase, The Bad and the Ugly

Yinzer Crazy • September 20, 2020

Steelers-Broncos Game Recap

It was not all that sexy – but 2-0 is 2-0.

A few weeks from now many will not remember how the game was won – but simply that the game was won.

And the Steelers did just enough to secure that in their 2020 Heinz Field opener.

Let us break it down in our 2nd edition of The Good, the Bad and the Ugly.

 
The Good

Chase Claypool

His first impression last week against the Giants would have certainly qualified him for the “first impression rose” if this were the Bachelorette.

Now his 2nd impression has made him a front-runner.

Mapletron, his nickname due to his Canadian roots and his freak-ish parallels to former Lions receiver Calvin Johnson, should be streaming as fast as Niagara Falls in your fantasy football leagues.

Do go Chase-ing Waterfalls.

His 84-yard touchdown in the 2nd quarter on a go-route along the Broncos sideline was poetic.

Claypool hauled in a perfect ball from Ben Roethlisberger and left the Broncos secondary in his dust on the way to what would be the longest TD ever scored by a Canadian player in NFL history.

It is also the fourth longest for a Steelers rookie in Franchise history.

Claypool has played only 19% of the offense’s total snaps. For context, JuJu Smith-Schuster and Diontae Johnson have both played 55%.

The Steelers are well-known for bringing rookies along slowly. But it’s going to hard to keep him off of the field moving forward.

Oh, and by the way – he also made two key tackles on special teams.

His debut in the NFL has been more than Aye-Okay.

 
James Conner

Prior to his 59 yard scamper late in the 4th quarter that sealed the deal on a Steelers victory, Conner only had accumulated 43 yards on 13 carries.

Not earth-shattering by any measure.

But the keywords in that sentence were “4th quarter”.

We are not always accustomed to him being out there at that time.

On Sunday, the Steelers and Mike Tomlin doubled down in their faith in Conner, only giving Benny Snell 3 carries after he led the team with 19 in a win over the Giants last Monday night.

I think the Steelers know that they need a confident James Conner if they want to contend in the AFC.

By making him the bell-cow on Sunday again it gives you two running backs moving forward who should feel very confident the rest of their season in Conner and Snell.

And once again most importantly – neither were injured as far as we know.


The Offensive Line

Rookie right guard Kevin Dotson and right tackle Chukwuma Okorafor did a tremendous job filling in on the right side of the banged up front five. Guard David DeCastro remained out on Sunday and new offseason acquisition lineman Stefan Wisniewski, who started week 1 against the Giants will miss significant time with a torn pectoral.

We thought this would be a major liability coming into the game. We barely noticed them. That is a big win for those guys.

Dotson was given a game-ball after the game by Roethlisberger. He said Ben said to give it to his dad, a life-long Steelers fan.

I am sure he is incredibly proud of his son.

 
The Bad

Terrell Edmunds

Alright, this one may be contentious.

I know he made a game-winning play – sacking Broncos backup QB Jeff Driskel on 4th down late in the game when Denver was driving for a staggering game-winning touchdown.

But overall – his play once again left a lot to be desired.

He gave up some chunk plays to Broncos tight-end Noah Fant who finished with 4 catches for 57 yards and a TD.

Fant is a beast - but was still playing with a backup QB.

And the eye-test still shows that Edmunds was consistently late in his rotations once more - something he struggled with against the Giants in Week 1.

The play on Driskel to end the game was huge – but if Driskel identifies the blitz and hits RB Melvin Gordon immediately who was wide open, we may be having a different conversation today about the Steelers being 1-1.

I think Drew Lock makes that play 9 out of 10 times.

This is still a “hot-seat” season for Terrell, one in which we've viewed him as a weak-link on an otherwise elite black and gold defense.

His seat should still be burning up.

 
Lack of Focus

When Broncos starting QB Drew Lock went down in the 1st quarter it forced backup Jeff Driskel into a prime-time role.

Driskel is 1-7 in his brief two-year career, posting a below average 79.6 total quarterback rating.

When he entered the game, I think most spectators - including myself, said to themselves that the game was over – it would be an easy victory for Pittsburgh.

It looked like the guys wearing the shoulder pads in the black and gold may have felt the same way.

You cannot let your guard down in this league.

These are the best players in the world and a loss to Jeff Driskel at home for a team that has Super Bowl aspirations would have been incredibly sobering.

Driskel played well, tossing two touchdowns and 256 yards on his way to an 85.0 QB rating.

Texans QB Deshaun Watson comes to town next weekend. If the Steelers at any point get lackadaisical, they could be looking at a long day.

 
The Ugly

Steelers Penalties

This could also be filed under the “lack of focus” section.

On Sunday, the Steelers committed 10 penalties.

Coach Mike Tomlin stated after the game during his press conference: “It was an Achilles heel for us today.”

It prolonged multiple Broncos drives and nearly cost them the game.

There wasn’t a team in football that committed 10 penalties in Week 1.

And just the Arizona Cardinals and Kansas City Chiefs had more flags thrown against them yesterday, both finishing with 11 total.

The most impactful was a Cam Sutton block in the back on a what would have been miraculous Diontae Johnson punt-return touchdown.

It was unnecessary, and in my eyes would not have impacted the result of the play as Johnson was well on his way to making the Broncos special teams look like swiss cheese.

Overall, it was a sloppy win. But a win indeed. And that’s what is most important at the end of the day in the cliché world.

Next week the Steelers welcome in the 0-2 Houston Texans – a team that should come into Heinz Field incredibly desperate to get their ship righted.

If the Steelers do not match that intensity then with Houston - we have a problem.

Check back with us for a full game-preview later in the week, along with more awesome content on the site.

As always follow us on social media for updates throughout the day.



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