It’s a young NFL season, but the Pittsburgh Steelers are already 2-0 on the strength of their elite defense. Hey, it’s a Mike Tomlin team. What did you expect?
On Sunday against the Denver Broncos, the Steelers flexed their muscles against rookie quarterback Bo Nix. Pittsburgh held the Denver offense to a 16.6 percent conversion rate on third down and picked Nix off twice — who also averaged a meager seven yards per pass attempt.
The best example of how the Steelers got into Nix’s head was during a critical pass-rushing sequence involving Perennial Defensive Player of the Year-caliber talent T.J. Watt. When Watt beat Broncos right tackle Mike McGlinchey off the edge, he couldn’t quite get a full grasp of Nix.
Instead, Watt just grazed Nix’s calf from the ground.
That didn’t stop Nix from throwing himself to the turf for the sack for no reason, anyway. That’s right, folks. We’ve got a PHANTOM SACK:
Bo Nix just got sacked by TJ Watt’s aura pic.twitter.com/QJGl7Lzn23
— Eric (@proptologydept) September 15, 2024
If there’s any consolation for Nix amidst his struggles, none of this year’s rookie NFL quarterbacks have thrown a touchdown yet, which includes Caleb Williams playing behind the Chicago Bears’ struggling offensive line. Nix can truly only go up from here.
But hanging your hat on other people’s failures is never good as a quarterback. At a certain point, Nix will have to show much more poise for the Broncos than he has so far.