Steeler Hitman Posted September 10 Share Posted September 10 (edited) When: Sunday 09/15/25 at 4:25 p.m. Where: Empower Field at Mile High All-Time Series Record: Broncos hold a 20-13-1 Lead in the series. Steelers lead the series in play-off meetings 5-3. Streak: Steelers have won the last two meetings in Pittsburgh. Interesting Fact: Historically, the Steelers have not faired well playing the Broncos in Denver. This is the week to be Road Warriors again. Key Broncos to watch on Offense Rookie #10 QB Bo Nix, #14 WR Courtland Sutton, Broncos OG #74 Ben Powers, OG #77 Quin Mienerz, OC #60 Luke Wattenberg, LT #72 Garrett Bolles, and RT #69 Mike McGlintchy. The Broncos will try to pound the Steelers as Atlanta had early success running the ball and will try to keep Bo Nix upright, not in obvious passing situations, and comfortable with favorable down in distance with run/pass options. Key Broncos to watch on Defense #2 CB Patrick Surtain II, #0 LB Jonathan Cooper, #5 LB Barron Browning, #49 LB Alex Singleton, #93 DL DJ Jones, #39 Levi Wallace Steelers offense will look to not turn the ball over again and to put the ball in the endzone. This may be a good week to find Van Jefferson and Calvin Austin III as Surtain is all world and will try to shadow Pickens. Former Bill and Steeler Levi Wallace can be exploited, but will also look to be opportunistic if the ball is bobbled or hangs in the air. Steelers' Keys to Victory 1. Get the Watt factor going early. This guy is on a mission and is looking to tear every opposing QB up. Mike McGlinchey is a very good RT and can dominate run blocking. Watt should have the advantage in obvious passing downs. Don't let Denver run the ball effectively. Consistently keep them in second and third and long situations. ,2. Play smart and don't let the Zebras get involved. Missed personal fouls penalties, sacks and stripped fumbles taken away, long completion to Pickens called PI, etc, etc., etc. Remove all doubt and play smart and hard-nosed football. This is a good week for Minkah to get his first INT or INT's in over a year. One of the best safties going up against a rookie QB. You hope o fool him and bait him into some mistakes. Let's get the OL to tell together. Najee, Jalen, and Corderelle will look for some running room versus the Broncos. Look to get Najee soaring in the rushing attack. This will help the Steelers offense finally find the endzone in 2024. No insider information, but you know that Russ wants to play in this one badly. Let's see how the calf feels. Coach Tomlin Tuesday Presser today. Stay tuned all week for the updates. I wouldn't touch this if I was a sporting man. The Steelers have done some weird things in Denver. They have had 90+ yard TD passes and then fumbled the ball out of the endzone trying to score. They have dominated the game and then dropped key passes. Let's not forget the Tim Tebow loss in the playoffs. That said. I think the Steelers find the endzone. Boz won't be as active this week. TJ Watt, Alex Highsmith, and Nate Herbig blitz, blitz, and blitz. Steelers get some sacks, but Denver's OL will test the Steelers DL and run defense. Patrick Queen and Elandon Roberts will need to be active and step up on early downs. Steelers squeak out another win 23 - 16. Yes in Denver even! Steelers run out of Denver with a victory. Edited September 10 by Steeler Hitman 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigben07MVP Posted September 10 Share Posted September 10 Said it already but there should be no reason we should lose this game, which is exactly why I think we will. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
August4th Posted September 10 Share Posted September 10 mile high low-key been a house of horrors for us. I think we win if we play turnover free ball. I expect our defense to dominate again...so if the offense doesn't turn it over, we should be good 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
August4th Posted September 10 Share Posted September 10 Tomlin said the team is preparing Fields to start 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MOSteelers56 Posted September 10 Share Posted September 10 50 minutes ago, August4th said: Tomlin said the team is preparing Fields to start I wouldn't be surprised if either guy starts. This could be gamesmanship to keep the Broncos guessing. I could see Russ start because this is his old team. I could see Tomlin not wanting to rock the boat, thus keeping Fields in. I'd rather Fields just keep it. May as well see what we've got with him. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MOSteelers56 Posted September 10 Share Posted September 10 Tomlin also said that the earliest we'll see Russ practice is Thursday. That makes me think it'll be Fields this week. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigben07MVP Posted September 10 Share Posted September 10 If Russ can’t go this week I wouldn’t fully rule out a trip to the short term IR. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MOSteelers56 Posted September 10 Share Posted September 10 2 minutes ago, bigben07MVP said: If Russ can’t go this week I wouldn’t fully rule out a trip to the short term IR. If they could do it retroactively, like the do in baseball, I'd agree. If they do it after this week, he'll be on the shelf until week 6. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigben07MVP Posted September 10 Share Posted September 10 “Pickens can’t run routes or separate” - everyone outside of Pittsburgh 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigben07MVP Posted September 10 Share Posted September 10 3 minutes ago, MOSteelers56 said: If they could do it retroactively, like the do in baseball, I'd agree. If they do it after this week, he'll be on the shelf until week 6. Right, I think it could take that long for Russ to be truly “right”. Calf injuries are really, really tricky and Russ is no spry chicken. Best course of action might be to just sit him down and let him fully heal. I’m not predicting this will happen I just wouldn’t rule it out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MOSteelers56 Posted September 10 Share Posted September 10 8 minutes ago, bigben07MVP said: “Pickens can’t run routes or separate” - everyone outside of Pittsburgh I, apparently, wrongly believed that too. I think this is what having an NFL caliber OC will do for you. GP may have worked on this over the off-season too, but I bet this has more to do with being schemed up a bit. 6 minutes ago, bigben07MVP said: Right, I think it could take that long for Russ to be truly “right”. Calf injuries are really, really tricky and Russ is no spry chicken. Best course of action might be to just sit him down and let him fully heal. I’m not predicting this will happen I just wouldn’t rule it out. I'm with you on this one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lomaxgrUK Posted September 11 Share Posted September 11 18 hours ago, bigben07MVP said: Said it already but there should be no reason we should lose this game, which is exactly why I think we will. I mean, that's a stretch. "No reason" - would insinuate there is a massive gap between the teams, which there isn't. I would agree with Vegas that the Steelers are a 3 point favourite, but definitely don't agree there is no reason why the Steelers should lose. Your Defense is obviously going to be an issue for us. For 3 and a half quarters, the Broncos really struggled against (another) high quality outfit. That said, it was on the road in a very intimidating atmosphere in their home opener. But, it's not like your team is any form of Offensive juggernaut, let's be honest (irrespective of who the QB is). For that reason alone, it's just a bit daft to say there is no reason why you can't lose the game. If Denver does manage to get up a score or two early with a turnover / ST play, then their pass rush is 100% going to be a factor in this game. The Steelers Offensive production outside of one player was poor, and that one player is going against (arguably) the very best in the business on Sunday. As a Broncos fan, I'm most concerned about turnovers and the running game (on both sides of the ball). Denver just couldn't get anything going at all in the run game on Sunday; I'd expect to see a lot more designed QB runs to be honest, both as a means of helping the run game, but also to free some things up in the short passing game. The Defense played so well for 3 Quarters, but they did get gashed by Walker III in the 3rd Quarter. The Seahawks OL is heavy like yours, and we did get man handled a bit which I think was likely a biproduct of them being on the field a ton in the first half. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigben07MVP Posted September 11 Share Posted September 11 (edited) 1 hour ago, lomaxgrUK said: I mean, that's a stretch. "No reason" - would insinuate there is a massive gap between the teams, which there isn't. I would agree with Vegas that the Steelers are a 3 point favourite, but definitely don't agree there is no reason why the Steelers should lose. Your Defense is obviously going to be an issue for us. For 3 and a half quarters, the Broncos really struggled against (another) high quality outfit. That said, it was on the road in a very intimidating atmosphere in their home opener. But, it's not like your team is any form of Offensive juggernaut, let's be honest (irrespective of who the QB is). For that reason alone, it's just a bit daft to say there is no reason why you can't lose the game. If Denver does manage to get up a score or two early with a turnover / ST play, then their pass rush is 100% going to be a factor in this game. The Steelers Offensive production outside of one player was poor, and that one player is going against (arguably) the very best in the business on Sunday. As a Broncos fan, I'm most concerned about turnovers and the running game (on both sides of the ball). Denver just couldn't get anything going at all in the run game on Sunday; I'd expect to see a lot more designed QB runs to be honest, both as a means of helping the run game, but also to free some things up in the short passing game. The Defense played so well for 3 Quarters, but they did get gashed by Walker III in the 3rd Quarter. The Seahawks OL is heavy like yours, and we did get man handled a bit which I think was likely a biproduct of them being on the field a ton in the first half. Trust me, I meant this as a dig at the Steelers not the Broncos. We have a long tradition of winning games that we are underdogs or are “overmatched” in and then dropping games that we “should” win as favorites (see us being 2-0 against the Ravens last year but dropping games we had no business losing against the Patriots and Colts). Even if we come out with the right mentality I do not think it will be an easy game by any means. Wasn’t trying to imply we are leaps and bounds better than you guys although I can see why it came off that way. Although I will say I thought Nix looked pretty awful week 1 and Tomlin has a really good track record against rookie QBs. How’s your RT? Because if TJ Watt decides to play like he did week 1 it could be a really long night for Nix. Edited September 11 by bigben07MVP Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
warfelg Posted September 11 Share Posted September 11 6 minutes ago, bigben07MVP said: How’s your RT? Because if TJ Watt decides to play like he did week 1 it could be a really long night for Nix. Last I saw it looks like Bolles at LT might not play. Their RT is Mike McGlitchney. His last 3 years have averages 68 overall on PFF, pass blocking 61, run blocking 71. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigben07MVP Posted September 11 Share Posted September 11 16 minutes ago, warfelg said: Last I saw it looks like Bolles at LT might not play. Their RT is Mike McGlitchney. His last 3 years have averages 68 overall on PFF, pass blocking 61, run blocking 71. That’s right I knew it was one of their OTs that left the game. Good news for Highsmith. Wouldn’t surprise me if Denver sells out to stop TJ after what he did last week. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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