TJ Watt and Pittsburgh’s stingy defense held off rookie Bo Nix on Sunday and Justin Fields, again filling in for the injured Russell Wilson, led the Steelers to a 13-6 win over the sputtering Denver Broncos.

Fields threw a touchdown pass and finished 13 of 20 for 117 yards without an interception, helping Pittsburgh (2-0) beat the Broncos (0-2) for the third straight game, an unprecedented feat in the teams’ 35-game series.

Though Nix threw for 246 yards on 20 of 35 passes, he never reached the end zone and was intercepted twice. And like Fields, he was sacked twice.

Nix, who had two turnovers in Seattle territory in the opener, was intercepted by Cory Trice Jr. in the back of the end zone in the third quarter, ending Denver’s best drive. Moments earlier, Nix had completed passes of 26 yards to Courtland Sutton and 50 yards to Josh Reynolds to put the Broncos on the Steelers 6.

On Pittsburgh’s ensuing drive, Broncos star cornerback Patrick Surtain II penalized the third of the game — a 37-yard pass interference — and set up Chris Bowell for his second field goal, this time from 53 yards out, to make it 13-0 late in the third quarter.

The Broncos were facing fourth-and-6 from the Pittsburgh 16-yard line when coach Sean Payton decided to send kicker Wil Lutz in for a 35-yard field goal with 10:42 left in the game, making it 13-3 and preserving a two-score deficit.

Another drive stalled at the Steelers 11, and Lutz connected from 29 yards with 1:54 left. With one timeout remaining, Payton elected to kick the ball deep rather than call an onside kick.

The Steelers kicked the ball back to the Broncos on their 19 with 9 seconds left, and Damontae Kazee intercepted Nix’s final throw as time expired.

Wilson’s long-awaited return to Denver to face the team that first replaced him with Jarrett Stidham and then with Nix, a rookie out of Oregon, ended in something of a footnote when he was demoted to emergency QB on Sunday after a calf injury sidelined him for the second straight week.

Wilson’s tumultuous two-year tenure in Denver featured an 11-19 record, a head coach who couldn’t get through his first season with Nathaniel Hackett and a year with Payton, whom Wilson coveted playing for earlier in his career but whose duo collapsed in their lone season together.

Wilson finished his time in Denver on the bench and the Broncos let him go in March, even though their split triggered a record $85 million in dead cap charges over two years. Wilson signed for the veteran minimum ($1.21 million) in Pittsburgh, meaning the Broncos will have to pay $37.79 million of his 2024 salary.

Boswell’s 22-yarder late in the second quarter gave the Steelers a 10-0 lead into halftime after limiting the Broncos to 62 yards of offense in the first half.

Fields’ 5-yard touchdown pass to Darnell Washington capped the only sustained drive by either team in the first half and gave the Steelers a 7-0 lead.

INJURIES

Broncos: DE John Franklin-Myers suffered a concussion in the first half. … OLB Baron Browning left the field in the second quarter with a foot injury. … Safety and special teams ace J.L. Skinner left the field midway through the fourth quarter with an ankle injury. … RT Mike McGlinchey walked to the medical tent after colliding with LT Garett Bolles at the 2-minute warning.

Steelers: Their only injury came in the fourth quarter when LB Tyler Matakevich suffered a hamstring injury.

NEXT

Steelers: Host the Los Angeles Chargers next Sunday.

Broncos: Visit Tampa Bay Buccaneers next Sunday.

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AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/nfl