DENVER — Quarterback Russell Wilson didn’t play a single snap in the Pittsburgh Steelers’ 13-6 win over the Denver Broncos, but coach Mike Tomlin gave him a game ball anyway.

Not just any match ball, but a ‘small match ball’.

“I think we all know Russ got a little dirty last year,” quarterback Justin Fields said after the game. “So I know he wished he could have played in this game today, but it’s great to have him win. He’s got a petty game ball.”

Tomlin routinely hands out that kind of game ball to his players in games where they beat their former teams. Practice squad wide receiver Brandon Johnson and punter Corliss Waitman, who both spent time in Denver, also received small game balls.

Wilson, who was released by the Broncos two years into a five-year, $242.6 million contract, was inactive as he continued to battle an aggravated calf injury, but he still spent significant time on the turf of his old stomping grounds during warmups. Wilson took the field more than three hours before kickoff to make a battery of throws, but he paused at midfield before beginning his workout to hug quarterbacks Zach Wilson and Jarrett Stidham and chat with former coaches and Broncos staffers.

He also briefly greeted Broncos first-round pick Bo Nix as he left the field after warming up. For a few minutes, the two were the only players on the field as the national anthem singers warmed up. Wilson threw passes to Steelers staffers in one end zone while Nix stretched out with a Broncos staffer in the other.

However, Wilson did not get any closer to his former team, as he spent the game on the Steelers’ sideline for the second week in a row as the emergency third quarterback.

Before the game, Wilson downplayed the drama of returning to Denver to face the team and coach who benched him at the end of the 2023 season over a contract dispute.

“I’ve got a lot of great friends there,” Wilson said last week. “… I just think for me it’s always about relationships. You think you can build cool relationships with those guys and people, but the most important thing is we put on the black and gold and we’re going to win and I think that’s our mentality.”

While Wilson didn’t see action in his revenge game, Fields more than managed to get the job done in his second Steelers start, though the output was inconsistent. Fields went 10 of 12 for 101 yards and a touchdown — his first as a Steeler — in the first half, but had just 16 passing yards in the second half as the offense sputtered, slowed by penalties and breakdowns in the run game.

“It’s hard to win in this league and especially away in these hostile environments,” he said. “So to start the season 2-0 and go home next week is a great start to the season.”