> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://nine-straight-threes.ghost.io/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # Hey, that looked like a lot of Steelers wins from 2025 - URL: https://nine-straight-threes.ghost.io/hey-that-looked-like-a-lot-of-steelers-wins-from-2025/ - Published: 2026-09-14T17:36:41.000Z - Updated: 2026-09-14T17:36:41.000Z - Author: Chris Mueller - Tags: Aaron Rodgers, NFL, Pittsburgh Steelers, Mike McCarthy, Mike Tomlin ### The more things change, the more they stay the same --- Sunday afternoon at Acrisure Stadium, the new-look Steelers made their debut under new head coach Mike McCarthy. Oddly enough, the new Steelers looked a lot like the old version, right down to the winning coach being a guy named Mike. That new offense that was going to harness the best of McCarthy and Aaron Rodgers? It produced exactly one touchdown and 13 points. Rodgers struggled to consistently get a rhythm going with his pass-catchers, with drops, uncalled penalties, sometimes shaky protection, and his own insistence on looking for one-on-one matchups the primary causes. The running game was nonexistent until late, as Jaylen Warren and Rico Dowdle both struggled to find daylight behind an offensive line that couldn't get a consistent push. Warren got 34 of his team-best 46 yards on three fourth-quarter carries, but otherwise, there was precious little happening when the team tried to run the ball. What really made the game resemble one of last year's triumphs, or one from a few years prior, was the fact that T.J. Watt took over and won it for the Steelers when other elements of the team seemed unwilling to do so. Watt was spectacular in the kind of way that makes a team pay someone other than a quarterback $41 million annually. McCarthy made it clear he thinks less is more with Watt in terms of his snap counts, and Watt proved him right, doing all his damage while playing just 38 of 60 defensive snaps - the fewest of any of the Steelers' edge-rushing hydra, as Nick Herbig played 39 and Alex Highsmith 41\. That damage was, by the way, two sacks, three tackles for loss, and a pick-six that provided the game-winning points. Watt was the best player on the field and the main reason the Steelers won the game, as he has been on so many occasions in the last several years. The fact that the majority of his damage was done in the second half further backs McCarthy's stance that he's at his best when he's rested. Sunday's contest was like a lot of the ones fans got accustomed to watching, particularly of late, with Mike Tomlin at the helm. The offense never got fully humming and functioned in fits and starts, the defense made splashy plays - Pittsburgh's only offensive score came as a result of Cooper Rush's other interception - and Chris Boswell was better than the other team's kicker. The main difference is that this is McCarthy's first game at the helm, and therefore, I suspect fans will be a little more forgiving about what they saw than they were after seeing Tomlin rack up ugly win after ugly win. New coach or not, it *was* ugly, and some of the same issues that plagued the team last year, particularly on offense, were front and center yet again. Rodgers took a few more shots downfield, yes, and but for a Roman Wilson drop and an uncalled pass interference penalty on a ball to D.K. Metcalf, and a bad Metcalf drop, would have had better numbers than 24-of-40, 221 and 1 touchdown. That said, look at this passing chart. There's still a lot of 2025 in there. I count 13 passes completed within five yards of the line of scrimmage. I see a lot of work to the perimeter of the field, and only a handful of attempts in the middle. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/9e/4d/9e4dfe80-e230-407d-9a32-b195b03fe3fd/content/images/2026/09/Rodgers-Passing-Chart-Week-1-2026.jpeg) Rodgers also has to stop relying on sideline isolation balls when there is an entire other side of the field where the rest of the play is unfolding. I will again tap the sign from [last week's column](https://nine-straight-threes.ghost.io/the-2026-steelers-will-be-different-better-though-thats-up-to-aaron-rodgers/), where I posted a video of Nate Tice tidily explaining the ways in which Rodgers was frustrating last year, despite all his experience and arm talent. That tendency kept cropping up in this game, and if D.K. Metcalf was Randy Moss, or Larry Fitzgerald, or Antonio Brown, I would have zero issue with it. He is none of those guys. He is a high-end number two wide receiver masquerading as a number one. Therefore, Rodgers needs to trust his protection more and not constantly decide pre-snap that he's going to ignore the rest of the routes being run. It's easy to slough off those issues, for at least one week, because the Steelers are 1-0\. Sure, it came against a third-string quarterback who looked every bit like one, and sure, the Steelers averaged fewer yards per play than the Falcons, and sure, if Nick Folk could make field goals most NFL kickers hit, the entire complexion of the game would have looked different. The fact of the matter is, as so often happened during the Tomlin administration, a confluence of circumstances converged to help the Steelers get a win. Same as it ever was. [Subscribe](#/portal/signup/free) [Share this post](#/share)