When the Pittsburgh Steelers traded George Pickens, it was clear that DK Metcalf was going to be the focal point of all their receiving production. With Aaron Rodgers throwing him the ball, Pittsburgh hoped that the connection would be good enough to mold the offense around. And at times, it has.
However, those times are becoming fewer and farther between. We’ve yet to really see the connection between the two take off, and Steelers insider Ray Fittipaldo thinks those inconsistencies have been there for a while.
“DK admitted this on Wednesday. He cut across the field to the sideline, and he should have kept the route going on the missed touchdown. It landed like three yards beyond him. It just seems like DK and Aaron have been a click off from the outset of the season. Obviously, they gotta get those two guys on the same page for this offense to get back on track,” Fittipaldo said Friday on 93.7 The Fan.
This is the missed touchdown Fittipaldo is referring to.
DK Metcalf on missed deep connection in 1st quarter: "Well, I had a corner-post, and I saw Aaron [Rodgers] roll out to the left. So, kind of broke my route a little flatter than I should have been. So, I should have kept the route high." #Steelers #NFL pic.twitter.com/2zx0smTri5
— Steelers Depot 7⃣ (@Steelersdepot) November 12, 2025
Metcalf breaks open up the middle of the field. While his defender is on his inside shade, Metcalf would still have been open had he continued towards the middle of the field. Unfortunately, the two had different expectations for each other, and this ultimately became a significant missed opportunity. Metcalf did later take responsibility for the confusion on the play.
However, it’s not as if Rodgers isn’t building chemistry with other receivers. Take this throw to Roman Wilson, for example.
This is a similar situation, with Wilson open down the field and Rodgers scrambling. Rodgers is not going to throw this deep ball across his body to where Wilson was initially heading. The young receiver makes a good adjustment and breaks to the sideline as soon as the ball is released. It may not mean much, but it’s interesting to see a player like Roman Wilson, whose involvement in the offense is to a far lesser extent, have more of a connection with Rodgers here than Metcalf.
If players like Wilson and Calvin Austin III could emerge more, that would be excellent for Metcalf. Often, he sees two defenders in front of him. And the Steelers aren’t able to win their other one-on-one matchups to offset that. Thus, Rodgers is always trying to fit a pass in between defenders when targeting Metcalf.
But despite reasons like those, it’s fair to be a little disappointed with this connection right now. DK Metcalf’s biggest day, a 126-yard outing against Minnesota, was carried by an 80-yard catch and run. If you pretend that play never happened, Metcalf has just two games with 80 receiving yards, and just four with over 50.
There are plenty of reasons you can point to for Metcalf and Rodgers not playing to their full potential together. Rodgers’ own poor play has been a significant reason for the recent struggles. We’ll see if the two can get back on track against Cincinnati.
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