After a furious fourth-quarter rally came up short in Pittsburgh, the Broncos’ needle on the contender/pretender meter is trending toward the latter.
Denver fell 27-19 to the Steelers at Heinz Field, the Broncos’ second straight loss in a prove-it game. Quarterback Teddy Bridgewater led the way during the comeback but on fourth down from the 3-yard line with 17 seconds left, his pass toward Courtland Sutton in the end zone was intercepted by Pittsburgh’s James Pierre.
Pittsburgh owned the time of possession for most of the day while Steelers rookie running back Najee Harris gashed the Broncos for 122 rushing yards. The path to 3-2 began in the first quarter, which Pittsburgh owned.
On the Steelers’ opening drive, Ben Roethlisberger connected with Chase Claypool for a 23-yard reception on third down. Claypool burned cornerback Kyle Fuller on the play. Three snaps later, Pittsburgh victimized Fuller again, this time with a 49-yard touchdown strike to Diontae Johnson to put the home team up 7-0.
Denver’s first drive was the anthesis of that. Lacking Pittsburgh’s sense of urgency, Broncos took a delay-of-game penalty before even getting a snap off, and went three-and-out after that. It extended the Broncos’ streak to 24 consecutive games without scoring an opening-drive touchdown.
Pittsburgh’s next possession featured the Broncos’ lone highlight of the quarter. Malik Reed strip-sacked Roethlisberger and Alexander Johnson scooped it up, setting Denver up at the Pittsburgh 29-yard line. But the Broncos only managed a Brandon McManus field goal to make it 7-3.
The Steelers got those points back on the next possession with Chris Boswell’s 48-yard field goal to make it 10-3 early in the second quarter.
Javonte Williams finally provided the Broncos offense with a spark with a 49-yard run. The rookie ran to the Steelers’ 2-yard line and spiked the ball in excitement; as a result, he was called for a five-yard delay of game penalty. That flag was followed by a 12-yard sack by Devin Bush, after a miscommunication in protection between Williams and right tackle Bobby Massie. So the Broncos turned a goal line situation into a red zone blunder, and again settled for a McManus field goal to make it 10-6.
Pittsburgh came right back with a TD the next drive, with Najee Harris’ one-yard scoring run was set up by two defensive blunders.
First, Roethlisberger identified and exploited a clear pre-snap mismatch between Chase Claypool and Von Miller, as the linebacker was lined up across from the wideout in the slot. The result was a quick slant and 59-yard gain. Then, on 3rd-and-15 in the red zone, Fuller was flagged for pass interference en route to the Steelers going up 17-6 into the half.
The Steelers were going to have to settle for a long Boswell field goal on their first drive of the second half, but Dre’Mont Jones was flagged for a personal foul on the attempt. That call for “leverage” on Jones was the first such flag in the NFL this year and was only called once across the league in 2020. It renewed Pittsburgh’s downs, and Roethlisberger proceeded to throw an 18-yard TD pass to Claypool to make it 24-6.
The Broncos finally found some momentum on their next drive, which featured three fourth-down conversions en route to Bridgewater’s two-yard touchdown pass to Kendall Hinton. That play, which came on fourth down and was Hinton’s first career TD, cut the score to 24-13 with 10:15 left. Denver is now 8-of-8 on fourth-down conversions in 2021.
After forcing a three-and-out on Pittsburgh’s next possession, the Broncos continued their comeback with a no-huddle offense. Bridgewater connected with Sutton for a 39-yard touchdown pass, cutting the score to 24-19 with 5:46 left after Denver’s two-point attempt failed.
The Steelers responded with a Boswell 43-yard field goal, extending Pittsburgh’s lead to 27-19 with 2:29 left and no timeouts remaining for the visitors. Bridgewater & Co. responded with a lengthy drive that had them three yards from the end zone, but the QB threw his first interception of the season on fourth down.
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October 11, 2021 at 03:22AM
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Broncos’ furious fourth-quarter rally falls short against Steelers, 27-19, as Denver fails another litmus test - The Denver Post
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