The Steelers had their six-game winning streak snapped thanks to a gutsy effort by the Broncos, who withstood a huge yardage disadvantage to walk away with a 24-17 victory at home.
So many things seemed to be going right for Pittsburgh. The team had trailed 10-3 early, but evened the score just before halftime on a trick play, with a direct-snap to Chris Boswell, the team’s place-kicker, resulting in a 1-yard touchdown pass to Alejandro Villanueva, an offensive tackle. They then took the lead early in the third quarter on a 97-yard catch-and-run by JuJu Smith-Schuster.
The Steelers, who looked nearly unbeatable on both sides of the ball in previous weeks, had the lead and the momentum, and the game seemed all but wrapped up.
But as they have done so many times this season, the Broncos kept themselves in the game despite being outplayed.
Things began to turn around for Denver when Chris Harris Jr. intercepted a Ben Roethlisberger pass intended for Antonio Brown in the third quarter. Just two plays later, the Broncos had tied the game with a 5-yard pass from Case Keenum to Emmanuel Sanders.
Another Pittsburgh turnover — this one a fumble by James Conner — helped set up Denver for the go-ahead drive in which Keenum led his team 79 yards on 11 plays, with Phillip Lindsay, the team’s undrafted rookie running back, taking the ball into the end zone on a 2-yard run.
The game was in doubt until the final two minutes when Roethlisberger marched his team down the field, reaching Denver’s 2-yard line. But in a final offensive play that looked broken from the start, Roethlisberger awkwardly executed a play-action fake before tossing the ball over the offensive line and into the waiting hands of Denver’s Shelby Harris, a nose tackle, who secured the game-saving interception.
Pittsburgh outgained Denver, with 527 total yards to the Broncos’ 308, and Roethlisberger passed for a whopping 462 yards, with none of that mattering thanks to the Steelers’ four turnovers.
Keenum completed 15 of 28 passes for 197 yards and two touchdowns and Lindsay led Denver’s rushing attack with 110 yards.
Their efforts helped offset a huge game by Pittsburgh’s offense in which Conner had 95 yards from scrimmage and Smith-Schuster had 10 catches for 189 yards. The second year wide receiver’s 97-yard score made him the first player in N.F.L. history to have two career 97-yard offensive touchdowns.
The win improved the Broncos’ record to 5-6 and dropped the Steelers to 7-3-1. Denver will try to get back to .500 in a road game against the defensively-challenged Cincinnati Bengals next week while Pittsburgh will face a stiff test at home from the Los Angeles Chargers.
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