ENGLEWOOD, Colo. — The Russell Wilson reunion game appears unlikely to materialize Sunday when the Denver Broncos play their home opener against the Pittsburgh Steelers. Wilson, the former Broncos quarterback who signed with the Steelers after being released by Denver in March, didn’t play Week 1 because of a calf injury and has been a limited participant in practice this week. Justin Fields is in line to start for the second straight week.
Given Wilson’s status, the soundbites about the former quarterback’s return were predictably muted as the work week began.
“We’re not playing tennis or golf,” said Broncos coach Sean Payton, who benched Wilson with two games remaining last season and then moved forward with the quarterback’s release in the spring despite a record $85 million in dead money. “We’re playing a team game, and we’re focused on the Steelers. They’re a good football team.”
My colleague @MikeDeFabo joined me on a new episode of @BuckingPod to break down the Steelers’ QB situation, Russell Wilson’s injury, what Pittsburgh’s defense could try to do to Bo Nix on Sunday and much more: https://t.co/SxdV4n8nq6
— Nick Kosmider (@NickKosmider) September 11, 2024
The Broncos will have plenty to deal with against a Steelers team coming off a season-opening victory over the Atlanta Falcons and will bring one of the league’s top defenses to Empower Field at Mile High. Here are five keys for Denver:
Navigating heavy personnel looks
The Steelers ran 20 plays out of 13 personnel (three tight ends) and two more out of 14 personnel (four tight ends) during their Week 1 win. No other team in the league ran more than nine plays combined in those groupings during the open weekend of games. While Fields and the offense didn’t produce many explosive plays, they consistently put themselves into manageable second- and third-down situations that allowed them to use their effective heavy package. The Steelers converted all three of their third-down attempts in 13 personnel and both of their third-down attempts in 14 personnel. The Steelers picked up 10 yards on a key second-and-9 play at midfield in the fourth quarter when Fields found tight end Pat Freiermuth for a 10-yard gain. Pittsburgh had five passes and 15 runs with three tight ends on the field, including three designed rushes for Fields — both of the 14 personnel plays were designed runs for Fields.
The Steelers figure to use these groupings heavily again on Sunday. They will try to lean on Najee Harris and Fields to consistently create positive, if unspectacular, plays and stay out of the kind of third-and-long situations that will allow the crowd at Empower Field at Mile High to get involved. The Broncos may need to take more blitzing chances on first down to disrupt that rhythm.
“We all know Pittsburgh’s formula to win,” Broncos defensive coordinator Vance Joseph said. “Shorten games, play great defense. It’s what coach (Mike) Tomlin has done for the last 15-plus years. That won’t change on Sunday. They’ve always been a team that played with big people — multiple tight ends, fullbacks — and it’s been a downhill, power running game. It’s gonna be a dark, tough game on Sunday. It’s not going to be fancy. It’s going to be the tough team that’s going to win. I’m looking forward to it, man.”
Thursday’s #PITvsDEN injury report.
📰 » https://t.co/3H3P9qEL1B pic.twitter.com/ukpWuAiMvj
— Denver Broncos (@Broncos) September 12, 2024
Bo Nix must find intermediate success by finding new targets
The Broncos’ rookie quarterback attempted 12 passes of 10 or more air yards in Week 1, the fifth-most of any quarterback. But his completion percentage (16.7 percent) was the lowest of the 22 quarterbacks who attempted at least eight such throws. Wide receiver Courtland Sutton was the target on eight of those 12 throws. The two connected on a 17-yard completion in the second quarter, but the other seven passes intended for Sutton on intermediate or deep routes were incomplete — and two were intercepted.
The Broncos need to mix up targets. Three of the other intermediate passes went to Josh Reynolds, who didn’t practice Wednesday as he deals with a sore Achilles, and one went to Marvin Mims Jr. Noticeably absent from that equation was tight end Greg Dulcich, who had two catches for 12 yards. Mims, who only played 12 snaps against the Seahawks, also needs to be more of a factor.
“It’s something that you have to be mindful of,” Nix said of distributing the ball to more targets down the field. “You’ve got to do it throughout practice. You’ve got to make it a point because the game can go on and you realize somebody hadn’t got as many touches. That’s just sometimes the flow of the game, but we’re going to do a good job of getting our guys the ball, getting our playmakers touches. Then the rest of the time when the ball is dispersed, we’re going to spread out. We’re just all going to do better at making plays and I think it starts with me getting those guys the ball.”
Executing the (possibly shorthanded) plan for T.J. Watt
There is never a good time for a team to be dealing with injuries to starters on the offensive line, but it could be an especially thorny problem on Sunday against a talented Pittsburgh defense that includes arguably the best edge-rushing tandem in the NFL in T.J. Watt and Alex Highsmith. The two have combined for 47 sacks and 12 forced fumbles since the start of the 2022 season.
Broncos left tackle Garett Bolles did not practice Wednesday and was limited Thursday as he deals with a calf injury that knocked him out of Sunday’s loss to the Seahawks in the fourth quarter. The veteran said after Thursday’s practice that he’ll be “ready to roll” Sunday, but he’ll need to continue to show progress. Center Luke Wattenberg, who missed Wednesday’s practice and was limited Thursday, suffered an ankle injury in the fourth quarter Sunday but remained in the game. If Bolles plays, he’ll draw a matchup with Highsmith, who had 14 1/2 sacks and five forced fumbles in 2022. Alex Forsyth would be the probable replacement for Wattenberg if the starting center can’t suit up, and he would share in the responsibility of corralling defensive tackle Cameron Heyward, who had 12 1/2 sacks the past two seasons.
Take a bow, TJ Watt. @Steelers win! #PITvsATL pic.twitter.com/zZQKyr2fQX
— NFL (@NFL) September 8, 2024
But the biggest task resides with right tackle Mike McGlinchey, who will face Watt on most passing downs. That’s not to say the veteran won’t have help against the four-time All-Pro and 2021 Defensive Player of the Year. The Falcons in Week 1 chipped and/or double-teamed Watt on 11 of his 23 pass-rush snaps. On another play, they left him intentionally unblocked as they threw a quick receiver screen. That left Watt with only 11 true one-on-one rushes, and he made the most of them: three quarterback hits and one, game-sealing sack. And that doesn’t even include his work in the run game, where he breezed by Falcons right tackle Kaleb McGary to tackle running back Bijan Robinson for a loss in the red zone.
“He’s kind of got an Aaron Donald-like effect on the game,” Broncos offensive coordinator Joe Lombardi said of Watt. “There’s great players in this league, but there’s just a couple guys I can remember that are as disruptive consistently as this guy. You better know where he is on every play.”
Avoid early-down issues in the red zone
Payton on Wednesday said Nix did a “good job” handling his responsibilities at the line of scrimmage — checks, protections, etc. — and added that the overall play-calling operation “went smooth.” But there was one notable exception pointed out by Nix himself. Five minutes into the second quarter, the Broncos led by two points and started a drive at Seattle’s 9-yard line after a muffed punt. It was a prime opportunity to build a two-score lead. But on the first play, the Broncos were called for a false start when Nix pulled back from center Wattenberg without the football in his hands.
“We just have to be louder on the cadence,” Nix said of the mistake.
The Broncos gained only 3 yards on the three plays after the penalty and were forced to kick a field goal. It was a microcosm of the mistakes — the penalty, a slip in the backfield, an interception — that foiled Denver’s red-zone opportunities. The Broncos converted only one of their four drives that moved inside the 20-yard line into a touchdown and capitalized on only one of their two goal-to-go drives.
As was the case too often last season, the Broncos struggled on early downs in that part of the field. Javonte Williams slipped in the backfield for a 1-yard loss on Denver’s first red-zone drive. On the play after Nix’s false start to begin the team’s second red-zone drive, Jaleel McLaughlin gained only 1 yard on an inside rush. On a second-and-7 play at the 19-yard line early in the second quarter, the Broncos lost 2 yards on a pass to McLaughlin, and Nix was intercepted on the next play. The Broncos need more production at the top of their red-zone drives.
“Kind of like the rest of the field, you’ve got to do well on first and second down in the red zone,” Nix said. “(Create more) third-and-manageables, third-and-shorts, and then when they’re there in the red zone, you just have to hit them. Sometimes it’s running it in, sometimes it’s making a play, it’s extending plays, and sometimes you get a good schemed-up pass, and you hit it in the end zone. Those are the things we’re going to continue to work on because, at the end of the day, the teams that separate are those that score in the red zone.”
Payton’s introspection on the running game must pay dividends
The Broncos produced only two explosive runs in Sunday’s loss to the Seahawks — and one of those resulted in a fumble. Payton must increase the quantity to produce more quality. The Broncos called only 20 designed runs in Seattle, an imbalance that resulted in Nix dropping back 49 times. It wasn’t the plan, Payton said emphatically after the game, but he also didn’t do enough to keep the plan from derailing.
“Any time we have a plan like that and we don’t execute or we don’t run the ball as well, I have to look at why,” Payton said after Sunday’s game.
The issues were widespread. Payton pointed to a couple runs where backs hit the wrong gap. Seahawks linebacker Boye Mafe slipped untouched past tight end Adam Trautman and Matt Peart in the fourth quarter to tackle McLaughlin for a loss. The Broncos didn’t force missed tackles and the team’s running backs, who were also frequent targets in the passing game, finished the game with only 68 yards on 27 combined touches — just 2.5 yards per play. Right guard Quinn Meinerz, voted a team captain before the season for the first time, was among those who publicly accepted blame for Denver’s lackluster rushing performance.
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“The film doesn’t lie,” Meinerz said. “And so you can look at the film and see me not being myself and my normal self of the way I play these games. So it was definitely a little bit of a wake-up call for myself. And so I’m looking to improve this week, attack practice a little bit different and really come into this game with a little bit more confidence in doing what I do.”
But much of Sunday’s game will rest on the coaching staff’s ability to devise a more successful rush plan — and then stick to it.
(Top photo of Sean Payton: Joe Nicholson / Imagn Images)
