It wasn’t exactly pretty, and his final stats were mediocre, but what Justin Fields did on Sunday in Denver’s 13-6 win over the Broncos was give the Steelers what they needed from their starting quarterback in this particular game: 60 minutes of turnover-free football.
Fields completed 13 of 20 (65 percent) passes for 117 yards, with 1 touchdown, no interceptions and a 97.3 rating. Fields also ran 8 times for 27 yards (3.4 avg.). Penalties, both against the Broncos for pass interference and against the Steelers for nullifying completed passes and taking a second touchdown pass off the board, robbed Fields of the kind of stats that would have made him a hero among fantasy football fans, but he kept his composure and did what he had to do to earn his second win in two starts in a Steelers uniform.
Fields is the Steelers Digest Player of the week.
Also included were George Pickens, who was officially credited with 2 catches for 29 yards, but not included in those numbers was a 37-yard pass interference penalty he assessed to CB Patrick Surtain, a 51-yard catch that was nullified by a holding penalty against Broderick Jones, and a 6-yard catch he turned into a diving-for-the-pylon touchdown that was nullified by a penalty against Van Jefferson; TJ Watt, who finished with 3 tackles, 1 sack, 1 pass defensed, 2 tackles for loss, and 2 hits on the quarterback; DeShon Elliott, who had a team-most tackles with 9, including 1 tackle for loss; Alex Highsmith with 4 tackles, 1 sack, and 2 tackles for loss; Cory Trice Jr., who had 2 tackles and an interception in the end zone; Damontae Kazee, who sealed the outcome of the game with 4 tackles and an interception; and Najee Harris, who ran for 69 yards on 17 attempts (4.1 average) and caught one pass for another 5 yards.