PFF: If Broncos OL Doesn’t Improve, Steelers Pass Rush Will ‘Eat Them Alive’

When the Pittsburgh Steelers took the field against the Atlanta Falcons last Sunday, all eyes were on Steelers QB Justin Fields. How would he fare in his first start with Pittsburgh? How would the offense as a whole perform? But after the game, everybody was talking about T.J. Watt.

It’s completely understandable, too. Watt had a walk-off sack to end the game. He had a fumble recovery, 4 tackles, 2 tackles for a loss and 3 quarterback hits. He also had 2 strip sacks called back by penalties. No doubt Watt wants to carry that momentum into Sunday’s matchup against the Denver Broncos.

The Broncos certainly won’t be looking forward to Watt, though. Denver allowed 19 quarterback pressures versus the Seattle Seahawks. That was a big part of rookie QB Bo Nix’s struggles in his NFL debut. And the task doesn’t get easier for his offensive line.

“If this matchup goes as south as it has the potential to, to me none of it matters,” said Trevor Sikkema on Pro Football Focus’ preview of the Steelers-Broncos game. “Broncos offensive line versus the Steelers defensive line… The Broncos have, we talked about them a lot, the most expensive offensive line in the NFL. They did not play up to their price tag this past week. And if they play similarly against the Steelers, the Steelers defensive line’s even better. T.J. Watt can take over the game himself… If the Broncos’ offensive line doesn’t play a hell of a lot better than they played last week, T.J. Watt is just gonna absolutely eat them alive. So will Cam Heyward, so will everybody else on the defensive line because that is what they are capable of.”

The Steelers were able to pressure Falcons QB Kirk Cousins 11 times on Sunday. He dropped back to pass 28 times. That means the Steelers pressured Cousins on roughly 39.3 percent of his dropbacks. Meanwhile, Denver gave up 2 sacks and 19 pressures (second most in the NFL in Week 1). Nix dropped back 51 times against the Seahawks and was pressured on 37.3 percent of his dropbacks.

Early in the week, two of Denver’s starting linemen were banged up. OT Garett Bolles and C Luke Wattenberg both failed to practice on Wednesday. Bolles was battling a calf issue and Watternburg had an ankle problem. But when the Broncos released their injury report Friday, both players practiced fully to end the week. Life is not going to get any easier for Nix and his offensive line when the Steelers come to town on Sunday. So having both Bolles and Wattenberg practicing fully is good news.

But regardless of Denver’s health, Watt and crew will certainly have opportunities to rattle Nix. The quickest way to ruin a rookie quarterback’s day is to get early pressure and hit him. The Broncos struggled to protect Nix in Week 1 while the Steelers excelled at getting after the quarterback. How the two matchup on Sunday could make all the difference.