Halicke: Slew of penalties ruin some big-time plays by Fields

DENVER -- The Steelers' offense has some room to improve. There's no doubt about that — they only tallied 62 yards in the second half of Sunday's 13-6 win over the Broncos at Empower Field at Mile High.

Justin Fields completed 13 of 20 passes for only 117 yards and a touchdown, averaging just 5.9 yards per attempt. But don't let the box score fool you. Fields' arm was on full display in this game, and it's a shame that he won't get credit for it.

The Steelers committed an egregious six penalties on offense. Not only could Fields have had much more in the stat department, it cost the team at least 10 points, if not 14. A touchdown pass to George Pickens was taken off the board due to an offensive pass interference call on Van Jefferson:

And, perhaps the most painful penalty of all, a holding call on Broderick Jones negated an absolutely ridiculous throw by Fields that would have given the Steelers first-and-goal at the 6-yard line:

51 yards on second-and-18 nullified by a penalty. A perfect throw downfield while on the run. This is why you don't just look at box scores; you need to watch the game to get the whole picture.

The game was 10-0 at halftime and should have been a game in which the Steelers rolled the Broncos in their own stadium. It could have easily been 20-0, if not 24-0 at halftime had the Steelers finished off the drive that Jones derailed by committing not one, not two, but three penalties.

The offense as a whole doesn't get a pass for this game. 13 points is what they got because penalties cost them points and cost them actual converted plays that moved the chains, like this one from Fields to Calvin Austin III on third down in the second half:

This is not an easy throw to make when three defenders are in your lap, and a fourth should have been, had Dan Moore Jr. not hooked his man. He used all arm to get the ball to Austin, shifting his feet off platform before throwing to protect himself, and it should have moved the chains. That is special arm talent and don't let anyone tell you otherwise.

When an offense commits six penalties, everyone has to wear it -- fair or unfair. But, it's a wild overreaction to blame the quarterback or blame the offensive coordinator for the lack of points or yards. The plays were there, especially in the first half. Penalties erased them. There's no disputing that. If Arthur Smith deserves any criticism, maybe his playcalling got conservative enough in the second half, as if they had gotten up 20-0 or 24-0 in the first half. The Broncos weren't going to let the Steelers run the ball, and Smith needed to come up with a bit more than go routes to Jefferson or Austin.

The silver lining here is Fields has shown more than enough over these two games that he can absolutely run this offense, and run it to be a unit that can score points. You saw the ridiculous throw to Pickens. You saw the tough throw to Austin with three guys in his lap that should have moved the chains.

But, Fields and the Steelers also benefited from some Denver penalties. And, it's because of Fields' ability to throw the deep ball. Here's another dime from Fields to Jefferson, in which the Steelers got great field position due to Riley Moss holding one of Jefferson's arms:

And, on the heels of Cory Trice Jr.'s first career interception, keeping the Broncos out of the end zone, Smith dialed up another deep shot, and Fields put one in great position for Pickens, who drew a defensive pass interference call on Pat Surtain II:

The Moss penalty gave the Steelers 27 yards. The Surtain penalty gave them 37 yards. Both penalties led to points on the board. That's not by accident. That was a very specific part of the Steelers' game plan going in. They were going to take their shots, knowing they'd get chunk plays whether balls were caught or not.

"We knew coming into this game that this (officiating) crew threw the most DPIs last year," Fields said after the game. "We knew that coming in, and that was a big effect on taking those shots downfield. When you have a deep threat like George and you have DBs scared to get beat deep, really it's just us or nobody. That's the thing that we preach: 1-on-1. It's either gotta be a catch, incompletion or DPI."

Fields' ability to throw a good deep ball gave the Steelers a huge advantage in this game, whether passes were caught or the Broncos committed penalties. It's one of the reasons why you'll hear Tomlin say things like, "Style points don't matter." Those yards moved the offense down the field, whether they are credited to the quarterback's passing yards or not.

Now, if they can clean up their own penalties, they may start putting up point totals that are more indicative of how Fields and others played.