For the second week in a row, the Pittsburgh Steelers were involved in an ugly game, this time away at the Denver Broncos.

Once again, the Steelers found a way to win, moving to 2-0 on the season with a 13-6 victory over the Broncos. After taking a 10-0 lead into halftime, the Steelers held on in the final minute, pinning rookie quarterback Bo Nix on the final play of the game to secure the victory. They found a way to come out on top in a game that saw them collect 10 penalties, some of which negated key plays for the Steelers.

But, a win is a win. That’s all that matters.

There’s some cleaning up and rethinking to be done, but the Steelers are doing it while winning games and leaning on a top-tier defense.

Let’s look at the numbers.

QB — B-

Another week, another disappointing statistical performance from Justin Fields. But his stats don’t tell the whole story in the win over the Broncos.

Fields finished 13 of 20 for 117 yards and a touchdown in the win, adding eight carries for 27 yards. Penalties took away several big plays from Fields in the passing game, including an absurd 51-yard strike to George Pickens on the play that was neutralized by a holding penalty on Broderick Jones.

He also should have had a second touchdown pass that day, but his touchdown to Pickens late in the first half was negated by an offensive pass interference penalty, after which the Steelers awarded Chris Boswell a field goal.

Fields was quite offensive downfield, picking up one pass interference call from the Broncos and a personal foul later in the game. Overall, he didn’t make any bad decisions in the passing game, aside from a bad sack in the red zone on play-action. He made up for it two plays later with a perfect ball placement to tight end Darnell Washington for a 5-yard touchdown.

As a runner, Fields had a nice 16-yard scramble on a scoring drive in the first half. But he was generally limited after that, as the Broncos did a good job of containing him for the most part.

RB — B+

The Steelers did a good job running the ball overall on the day. Najee Harris and Jaylen Warren combined for 111 yards on 26 touches. That’s good for 4.3 yards per carry. They had some decent success on the day and could have had better days overall if not for some penalties.

Harris started strong, ran hard and found some big lanes. Warren looked completely healthy with no limitations and was shot out of a cannon. Harris is the real thunder between the tackles and Warren brings the lightning.

There is a clear formula for the Steelers, and it worked well on Sunday. It is disappointing that they could not be rewarded for it further.

In the passing game, Warren had two catches for 19 yards, including a key 12-yard catch and run to move the chains with the Steelers deep in their own territory. Harris had a 5-yard catch on the afternoon.

Behind Harris and Warren, Cordarrelle Patterson had two carries for three yards as the Steelers tried to influence him.

WR — C-

Going into the game against the Broncos, the matchup between Pickens and Broncos cornerback Patrick Surtain II was a big one to watch. Pickens, to his credit, had a lot of success against Surtain.

Two catches for 29 yards may not be much to be happy about, but he saw a touchdown wiped off the board by an offensive pass interference penalty on Van Jefferson that was questionable. He also had a 51-yard catch over Surtain that was wiped out by a holding call on Broderick Jones.

Pickens also picked up a key pass interference on Surtain later in the game. He would have had higher numbers if there had been no penalties, which is frustrating for him.

Jefferson had that questionable call go against him. He didn’t appear to do anything wrong, but it cost him a touchdown. He also had just two catches for 14 yards, though he was called for a major pass interference penalty on Broncos corner Riley Moss.

Calvin Austin III had a nice catch of 6 yards for a third down in the first half and later took a big hit from Denver safety P.J. Locke for a first down, but he was barely visible as a receiver.

This team really needs another option at receiver. Hopefully Roman Wilson gets a helmet in week 3.

TE — C+

It was great to see Darnell Washington get some work as a receiving tight end, showing great body control to haul in a back-shoulder throw from Fields for the game’s only touchdown. He was split wide and won easily on the back-shoulder fade, which was very encouraging.

Earlier in the drive he also had a great block, teaming with Dan Moore Jr. to break through that side of the Broncos defense and beat Jaylen Warren for an 11-yard run.

Pat Freiermuth caught four passes for 39 yards and got some work in midfield, which was encouraging.

But other than that, the tight ends were pretty quiet and didn’t seem to have much of an impact on the run game, especially in the second half.

OL — D+

Punish, punish, punish.

If it weren’t for the penalties, this would have been a solid outing for the offensive line. Pittsburgh ran the ball well, getting about 4.0 yards per carry. At one point, the offense went to Denver.

But the punishments were a real problem.

Dan Moore Jr. had a holding call that negated a first-down conversion from Fields to Austin. Broderick Jones had three penalties in one drive, leading to his benching

Troy Fautanu played well in his NFL debut, while Zach Frazier also really went after things in the run game. But overall, the penalties really hurt this team, especially in key moments. It’s hard to overlook them.

DL — One-

The Steelers held the Broncos to just 64 rushing yards on 19 carries, leaving them completely one-dimensional at the end of the first half and never looking back.

Cameron Heyward had another strong game and continues to be a rock against the run. He had three tackles in the win and also had three quarterback hits, including generating a key push on Bo Nix’s critical end-zone interception to keep points off the board.

Keeanu Benton also had three tackles and a quarterback hit and was much improved against the run compared to last week in Atlanta.

Larry Ogunjobi had a quiet night, but did get a holding call on Mike McGlinchey, and Isaiahh Loudermilk had a key batted pass at the line of scrimmage in the red zone to force a field goal. Also great to see Montravius ​​Adams perform again, creating pressure and finishing with two tackles.

LB — One

Going into the game I expected Alex Highsmith and TJ Watt to have a great game and they did, with two sacks, four tackles for loss and seven total tackles.

Highsmith was a force against Garett Bolles while Watt had his way with Mike McGlinchey, neither of which were rewarded with punishment as the referees let Denver get away with it.

But eventually the two made plays.

Nick Herbig drew a key holding call on Bolles in the second half, winning quickly inside and forcing Bolles to grab and hold. That trio is tough to beat when it’s rolling. Denver and Bo Nix figured that out.

Inside, Patrick Queen had a nice comeback from a rough Week 1. He had four tackles, broke up a key pass on fourth down, nearly intercepted it and was around the ball the entire game. Elandon Roberts had two tackles and again split time with Payton Wilson, who didn’t make a tackle but was all over the field.

DB — B-

If there had been no penalties against Joey Porter Jr., this would have scored a lot higher.

Porter was penalized twice in coverage, including a poor holding call on Courtland Sutton that gave the Broncos new life on a drive.

But other than that, the Steelers’ secondary was very good.

DeShon Elliott was outstanding, leading the Steelers with nine tackles, recording a huge tackle for loss on third-and-short to force a punt. Minkah Fitzpatrick also had a great game, recording seven tackles, playing fast downhill to try and jump routes as the Steelers held almost everything in front of them.

Donte Jackson struggled with injuries the entire game, but he made a great tackle on the runner, flying downhill and taking out the legs of the Denver ball carrier in a beautiful way.

Cory Trice Jr. had the play of the day, jumping a pass into the end zone from Bo Nix for an interception, making a play on the first snap of the game for the injured Jackson. It was a great read-and-react play in zone coverage and he stepped up big time.

Damontae Kazee was beaten hard on Nix’s 49-yard pass to Josh Reynolds on a trick play, but he sealed the win with an interception on the final play.

Special Teams — C-

Chris Boswell was clutch again, hitting both field goals, including a 53-yarder in the Mile High City. If he gets called up, he’s money. He proved that again on Sunday.

Corliss Waitman came in for the injured Cameron Johnston and had a very good game. Waitman kicked the ball eight times in his return to Denver and averaged 53 yards. He had three touchbacks and two punts that he completed inside the 20-yard line.

His final punt of the game was huge, as he hung around long enough for the Steelers to come down and limit Marvin Mims Jr. to just 9 yards, which also took some time off the clock. Gunner Ben Skowronek had a nice game in that role, making the tackle on the final punt and also getting a holding call earlier in the game for being mugged the entire game.

Darius Rush played poorly early in the special teams, getting fooled by Mims on a Waitman punt and failing to chase the ball down, resulting in a touchback. It looked like he wasn’t the gunner in the second half and was replaced by Cordarrelle Patterson, but I’ll have to look into that.

Calvin Austin III had some success in the return game, returning five punts for 27 yards, but he would have had a better day if it weren’t for a number of penalties that negated strong returns. Jaylen Warren had a botched kickoff, resulting in a short 13-yard return that put the Steelers in a tough spot offensively.

Miles Killebrew nearly blocked the game’s first punt, which would have been a statement from the All-Pro special teamer.