Month: June 2025

Steel City Underground presents our 2024 Steelers Recall: a look back at Pittsburgh Steelers games and storylines from last season.

It was a rough, low-scoring game. However, the Pittsburgh Steelers would walk away with a 2-0 start to their 2024 NFL season following a 13-6 victory on the road at the Denver Broncos. Like the previous week’s game against the Atlanta Falcons, the story was more about the Steelers defense, though the young offense was starting to take strides.

Embed from Getty Images

One of the big stories coming into this matchup was a potential return match with now Steelers QB Russell Wilson revisiting his old coach and team from the 2023 season. 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 was probably disappointing from Russ’ perspective.

Embed from Getty Images

The Steelers defense would start the day as the Broncos received the opening first quarter kickoff. Pittsburgh would hold rookie QB Bo Nix to a three-play, seven-yard drive and a punt on their first possession. Pittsburgh’s offense, with Justin Fields starting at quarterback, similarly struggled on their first drive: three plays, eight yards, and a punt.

However, the Steelers offense would find some success throughout the opening of the game, leading a twelve-play, 73-yard drive that consumed 7:34 minutes on the clock and culminated with a 3rd-and-5 from the Broncos 5-yard line. Fields would find second-year TE Darnell Washington for Pittsburgh’s first offensive touchdown of the year.

Unfortunately, it would be the only one in this game as well, with an 11-play, 73-yard drive culminating in a midfield punt after Fields and company started their third series from the one-yard line. The Steelers defense would keep the Broncos offense in check, however, forcing three punts and a turnover on downs in Denver’s four first-half drives. The last of those drives would result in a masterclass of a two-minute drive for Pittsburgh.

Embed from Getty Images

Down 7-0 with 2:32 remaining before halftime, Denver made a dubious decision to go for it on 4th-and-7. 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, 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.

Embed from Getty Images

The Steelers offense would fail to generate a series with more than five plays for the remainder of the game. Fields would only attempt 20 passes, as the Steelers ran the ball 36 times and controlled the time of possession. The run game was a mixed bag with Najee Harris, Jaylen Warren, and Cordarrelle Patterson all getting carries. Harris led the group with 69 yards on 17 carries, as the Steelers totaled 141 on the ground: they would only pass for 117!

Defensively, the Steelers were getting great pressure up front, allowing their defensive backfield to not only be creative but downright stifling to opposing receivers. T.J. Watt and Alex Highsmith led in pressuring Broncos rookie quarterback Bo Nix from the edges, as the Steelers defensive line bottled up the run. It set the Steelers’ up to be able to maintain the remaining coverage by keeping most of the plays in front of them for another winning turnover battle.

Embed from Getty Images

Earning two sacks on Nix, and seven hits, the pressure up front forced errant throws. Two of those passes ended up in the hands of Steelers defenders in the second half.

On the first of those interception plays, Donte Jackson had been injured on the play before and Nix was determined to get a pass into the end zone to Courtland Sutton. Instead, Heyward pressured Nix and he didn’t see Jackson’s replacement, Cory Trice, simply read the pass and grab it on the one drive that could have successfully given the Broncos a chance to get back into the game after going down 13-0 early. It was Trice’s first career interception after missing all of his rookie season in 2023 with a torn ACL.

At the end of the game, Damontae Kazee also intercepted a Nix pass. It seemed apropos, as the defense had gotten the final say in Week 1 with a Watt sack, that an interception should be the curtain call in Week 2.

Embed from Getty Images

However, the big storyline heading into and coming out of the Denver game was Broderick Jones. The big news that broke prior to kickoff was that Steelers first round pick Troy Fautanu would start on the right side of the line in place of last year’s first round draft selection, 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. 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. Unfortunately, this game would also set Fautanu’s progress back further as he would be placed on injured reserve days later, ending his rookie year.

With second-year lineman Spencer Anderson already in the lineup for the injured Isaac Seumalo, the Steelers offensive line was looking like a jumbled mess. Yet, somehow the Steelers would persevere with their home opener against the Los Angles Chargers looming for Week 3. Join us for our next Season Recall column as we revisit that game, and others, throughout the dog days of Steelers summer!

2024 Steelers Season Recall: No rematch for Russ in Denver appeared first on Steel City Underground.