Aaron Rodgers Threw 40 Times and the Steelers Still Looked Like Last Year's Team

The Mike McCarthy era in Pittsburgh opened with a win, a game ball, and a familiar set of problems.

The Steelers beat Atlanta 20-13 at Acrisure Stadium on Sunday, giving McCarthy a victory in his first game coaching the team he grew up rooting for. Aaron Rodgers handed him the game ball afterward, a gesture that got the sentimental headline. The box score tells a less warm story.

Rodgers went 24-of-40 for 221 yards, one touchdown and no interceptions — an 83.4 passer rating. That line sounds fine until you notice the 5.5 yards per attempt. Forty throws producing 221 yards is not a downfield passing game; it's a series of safe completions that occasionally moved the chains and never scared anyone. Pittsburgh finished with 279 total yards and converted just 25 percent of its third downs.

The run game was worse. The Steelers managed 58 rushing yards on the afternoon, which is the kind of number that forces a 42-year-old quarterback into volume he shouldn't be carrying in his final season. McCarthy said as much afterward, acknowledging his play calling got away from him and that Pittsburgh can't repeat the pass-heavy formula it leaned on in Week 1. He expects Jaylen Warren and Rico Dowdle to carry more of the load going forward.

That's the correct diagnosis. Whether the offense can execute the prescription is the open question, and it's worth noting that Atlanta was down to Cooper Rush at quarterback. The Steelers beat a shorthanded team by seven points and needed a defensive score to create breathing room.

T.J. Watt Covered for an Offense That Couldn't Close

The margin came from the other side of the ball. Watt's 35-yard interception return for a touchdown in the fourth quarter effectively decided the game, and it capped a performance that reminded everyone why he remains the engine of this team. Pittsburgh sacked the Falcons' quarterback four times and held Atlanta to 13 points, a defensive line output that made a one-score game feel less precarious than the yardage suggested.

That's the formula that got Pittsburgh to 1-0, and it's the same formula that has defined the franchise for years: keep the game close, protect the football, let the defense tilt the field. It's a viable way to win when the opponent is compromised at quarterback. It gets harder against opponents who can score.

What It Means Heading to Foxborough

The Steelers opened as 4.5-point underdogs for Sunday's trip to Gillette Stadium, which says plenty about how the market views a 1-0 team visiting an 0-1 one. There's a reasonable case for that read: Pittsburgh's offense generated its points against a third-string passer, and now it has to prove it can move the ball without that cushion.

There's also a real opportunity. New England lost its opener 13-10 in Seattle, and Drake Maye threw three interceptions in the process. The Patriots also lost A.J. Brown to injured reserve with a high-ankle sprain, removing the receiver acquired specifically to give Maye a true No. 1 target. That's a meaningful subtraction against a defense that just demonstrated it can generate pressure and takeaways.

So the matchup sets up favorably for the Steelers' strengths — and uncomfortably for their weaknesses. If Pittsburgh can't run the ball, Rodgers will again be throwing 40 times, this time on the road against a Bill Belichick-era building's successor and a defense that held Seattle to 13 points. Watt and Alex Highsmith can only win so many games from the edge.

The most compelling thing about this Steelers team one week in isn't the 1-0 record. It's that the offense looks indistinguishable from the version that held the team back a year ago, and the schedule is about to stop being forgiving.