Justin Fields and the Pittsburgh Steelers narrowly defeated the struggling Denver Broncos 13-6 on Sunday, with Russell Wilson again watching from the sidelines in Denver.
Wilson’s much-anticipated return to Denver, where he was replaced first by Jarrett Stidham and then by rookie Bo Nix, was less eventful as he remained sidelined with a strained calf for the second week in a row.
Despite Wilson not playing, Steelers coach Mike Tomlin gave him a game ball in the winning locker room.
“It was nice to get him a win,” Fields said about Wilson’s return to Denver.
Fields threw a touchdown pass and completed 13 of 20 passes for 117 yards without any interceptions, leading Pittsburgh (2-0) to a victory over the Broncos (0-2) for the third time in a row.
“It’s always hard to win in this league, so being able to start out 2-0, with two away games has been great,” said Fields, who also won his first start 18-10 at Atlanta with a solid performance.
“But we’ve got to be better. We’ve got to stop the penalties, stuff like that. We ought to be better, including me.”
“We get that and the way our defense is playing, we get rolling on offense, scoring 28 points-plus, we’ll be in good shape.”
Even though Nix passed for 246 yards on 20-of-35 attempts, he didn’t score any touchdowns and was intercepted twice. Like Fields, he was sacked twice.
Broncos legend Peyton Manning often jokes about hoping someone will come along and break his NFL record of 28 interceptions in a rookie season. With four interceptions so far, Nix could potentially achieve that record.
Nix, who had two turnovers deep in Seattle’s territory in his NFL debut, was intercepted by Cory Trice Jr. in the back of the end zone during the third quarter, ending Denver’s best drive. This drive included completions of 26 yards to Courtland Sutton and 50 yards to Josh Reynolds, putting the Broncos at the Steelers’ 6-yard line.
