QB Aaron Rodgers was stellar in his Pittsburgh Steelers debut on Sunday. He’s the first Steelers quarterback to throw for four touchdowns in his first game with the team. His performance was quite the pleasant surprise, and he was a huge part in the team’s 34-32 win over the New York Jets.
It was also quite necessary, and that has people concerned. The Steelers couldn’t stop the Jets’ run game, giving up 182 yards on the ground. It wasn’t all that long ago that the Steelers gave up 299 rushing yards to the Baltimore Ravens in the playoffs. The Steelers wanted to make sure that wouldn’t be repeated, but here we are in Week 1. And it’s already a big concern moving forward.
“Both of these defenses were bad,” analyst Jason Fitz said Monday on Yahoo! Sports Daily. “That was the surprising part for me for the Steelers. Because certainly, as I’ve said coming into the season, we expected the Steelers’ defense to be their calling card. Well, that defense that we saw yesterday, that’s pretty scary that they let the Jets go off on them like that.”
Fitz highlighted one of the major gaffes by the Steelers’ run defense, a fourth-down run by former Steelers QB Justin Fields. He faked the handoff, everyone crashed down, and Fields essentially walked into the end zone.
🔮 @JJWatt: “You have the speed of Justin Fields — fake the hand off, naked all the way to the edge”
“There it is!” pic.twitter.com/XlE2LcuelP
— NFL on CBS 🏈 (@NFLonCBS) September 7, 2025
Fields ran the ball 12 times for 48 yards and two touchdowns against his former team. He was also dangerous passing the ball, completing 16 of his 22 attempts for 218 yards and a touchdown.
If the Jets were able to punish the Steelers’ defense like this, what will the Baltimore Ravens do? Yes, they lost to the Buffalo Bills in one of the wildest games in recent memory. But the Ravens ran for 238 yards and three touchdowns against the Bills while QB Lamar Jackson also threw for 209 yards and two touchdowns.
The Steelers absolutely need to figure out how to play better defense. They spent the offseason trying to address issues on that side of the ball, bringing in veterans like cornerbacks Darius Slay and Jalen Ramsey. They also drafted defensive linemen Derrick Harmon (who missed Sunday’s game) and Yahya Black. Fields spoke post-game about how the Steelers emphasized the defense and pointed out how he and the Jets performed.
Yes, the Steelers should be happy they won their season opener, even if it wasn’t in typical Steelers fashion. But if Justin Fields, the quarterback they benched for Russell Wilson last year, played like he did against this defense, it could be a very long season.
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