Crowd noise and altitude aren’t the only challenges Pittsburgh faces at Denver this week. Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin said Tuesday the Broncos’ rookie quarterback, Bo Nix, presents two specific hurdles for his defense.
“Somewhat surprised by his level of quarterback mobility and his impact on the game,” Tomlin said after watching film of Denver’s 26-20 loss at Seattle. “I thought he was highly effective, by design or by ad-lib, last week. He scored a touchdown late in that game with his legs. He extended some plays and made some plays.”
Nix led the Broncos with 35 yards on five carries, including that touchdown – a nifty, 4-yard score off a scramble, complete with several fake passes to freeze Seattle defenders. But that wasn’t all that concerned Tomlin. When T.J. Watt and the defense led the Steelers to an 18-10 win at Atlanta last week, they didn’t encounter something else Nix does well.
“They changed their launch point some, with some misdirection passing,” Tomlin said, referring to Nix’s arm. “That’s challenging. We didn’t have to deal with a whole bunch of launch-point changes and quarterback mobility last week, so this is a new challenge for us in terms of the regular season this year, so we better respect that and prep to position ourself to play.”
It’s an interesting matchup for the Steelers, who are just 1-5 under Tomlin in the Mile High City, including a pair of postseason losses. Pittsburgh is winless over its last four trips to Denver and hasn’t won there since Nov. 9, 2009.
This might be one of the better defenses Tomlin has taken to Denver, however. Pittsburgh got a pair of sacks and two takeaways in a Tomlin-style win at Atlanta, holding the Falcons to just 226 total yards.
Early in the second half, Watt recovered a fumble to set up Chris Boswell’s go-ahead field goal. Watt actually posted three sacks in the game but, due to Steelers penalties, only his game-ending sack counted in the boxscore.
“The defense stood up a lot in the game,” Tomlin said. “The turnovers were big, the plays down the stretch. I just thought as the game wore on, too, our defensive front – our rush in particular – really controlled the game. What can you say about T.J. Watt that hasn’t been said, in terms of his quality of play? We expect it but we appreciate it.”
The Steelers also appreciate Boswell, who earned AFC Special Teams Player of the Week. And that’s encouraging considering their uncertainty at quarterback.
And on that subject, Tomlin’s advice for whether Justin Fields or Russell Wilson starts against his former team in Denver? Don’t waste your time. The coach is preparing Fields to start on Sunday (4:25 p.m. ET, CBS) without more information on the calf strain that sidelined Wilson last week. If Wilson is healthy, will he start?
“That’s a big if. I’m not into the hypotheticals,” Tomlin said. “As I mentioned, right now, he’s not healthy, so my time and attention is focused on the readiness of Justin.”