While the Pittsburgh Steelers’ defense has gotten its act together after a couple months of poor play, the offense suddenly looks like a Matt Canada unit. The 34-12 final score is misleading. The offense only scored 20 points against the league’s worst defense. That is rarely going to be enough to win on any given Sunday, and the opposing defenses aren’t going to get any easier this year.
Steelers beat writer Mark Kaboly outlined one of the biggest issues with the offense in his Monday column.
“It was yet another game that every Steelers wide receiver not named DK Metcalf had trouble getting open. If you wondered why Rodgers was scrambling so much and throwing it to nowhere was because there just wasn’t much separation created by Austin and Roman Wilson, and that’s becoming a growing concern,” Kaboly wrote. “Something has to be fixed. It is likely not Marques Valdez-Scantling, but it is probably worth a try at this point.”
Kaboly’s 10 observations: If Aaron Rodgers is out, Steelers can’t help but believe in Mason Rudolph
Mark Kaboly / Steelers Correspondent
For The @PatMcAfeeShow
PITTSBURGH — Mason Rudolph, who crawled through a river of sh*t and came out clean on the other side.
That Shawshank… pic.twitter.com/FxWkvxDIRK
— Mark Kaboly (@MarkKaboly) November 17, 2025
The Steelers may have agreed that they weren’t getting enough out of the WR room because they shook things up in Week 11. Roman Wilson played a career-high 37 snaps while Calvin Austin III only got 19. That was his lowest total of the season, including the game he exited early with an injury.
Even then, the two receivers combined for just two catches and 22 yards on three targets. There is a reason why the Steelers were reportedly in on some big-time splashes in the WR trade market at the deadline. If they aren’t able to make an impact against the worst defense in the league with DK Metcalf drawing double coverage, when will they make an impact?
Perhaps one of the reasons Rodgers is now injured is he was holding onto the ball longer than he has in any game since 2016. Perhaps he’s a bit indecisive right now, but receivers failing to get open didn’t help.
Before leaving the game with a hand injury, Aaron Rodgers was averaging the longest time to throw (3.49 seconds) of any game since 2016 (min. 10 attempts).
Rodgers completed 8 of 13 passes of longer than 2.5 seconds to throw for 108 yards and a touchdown. per @NextGenStats…
— Steelers Depot 7⃣ (@Steelersdepot) November 17, 2025
There is no cavalry on the way to help fix the Steelers’ passing game. Unless you count Scotty Miller and Marquez Valdes-Scantling. The former suited up on Sunday and played just two offensive snaps, for what it’s worth.
Right or wrong, the onus is going to fall on Arthur Smith to scheme players open if they aren’t creating separation themselves.
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