Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Aaron Rodgers
Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Aaron Rodgers | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect
Just looking at the numbers, the Pittsburgh Steelers' offense struggled mightily to move the ball consistently in their first game under new head coach Mike McCarthy. They managed just 264 total yards, went 3 of 13 on third down, and managed just 13 offensive points in their 20-13 win over the Falcons. If it weren't for a spectacular interception return for a touchdown by T.J. Watt, who knows if the Steelers would have won their home opener against a Cooper Rush-led Atlanta team.
With all of those negatives on paper, fans would be forgiven if they were worried that this offense is the same low-ceiling, boring attack that has become the norm in Pittsburgh over the last half-decade.
Luckily, their struggles on Sunday were less about their approach and more about their execution. Aaron Rodgers still has his warts at 42 (he was just 24 of 40 passing for 223 yards); DK Metcalf made multiple mental errors; and the rushing attack can't be an afterthought like it was against the Falcons. But this offense may just need a few tweaks (and some better luck) to find its best success in years.
The Pittsburgh Steelers looked like a much different offense in Week 1, just not a better one...yet
The biggest difference between last year's offense and the one we saw on Sunday is evident in Rodgers' underlying passing statistics. While his 5.6 yards per attempt would have tied for his fourth-worst mark in 2025, his average depth of target (ADOT) of 10.1 would have tied for his highest mark in a game from last season, all according to Pro Football Focus ($).
Simply put, Aaron was slinging the rock down the field against Atlanta: he just wasn't having any success doing so. There were multiple missed opportunities, like Roman Wilson's near touchdown catch from over 40 yards out and a clear missed pass interference on another deep shot to DK Metcalf, but none of his six pass attempts of over 20 yards managed to be completed, according to Next Gen Stats.
Deep passes naturally come with a lot of variance, but the fact that it was a point of emphasis is a welcome sight. Where I think we could see the most impactful change, however, is attacking the intermediate part of the field (10-19 yards down the field) with more regularity.
Rodgers attempted seven passes in that area against the Falcons, equating to 17.5% of his attempts. That number was one of the lower marks in Week 1, but it's up over 3% from his 2025 season-long number of 14.3%. That was comfortably the lowest percentage of passes to the intermediate part of the field in the league last season, according to PFF ($).
He was very successful on those attempts as well, completing five of those seven attempts for 87 yards and his only passing touchdown on the day.
If that number can creep up towards 20% on a regular basis, there will be less of a reliance on checkdowns and underneath completions to pick up first downs. Many of the most effective passing games in the NFL last season were led by QBs with an affinity for that part of the field for a reason.
Sure, throwing a high percentage of passes like that can be risky. Most defenders tend to end up in that area during the play, especially box safeties and linebackers looking to clog up passing lanes. But Rodgers proved he can still layer throws with the right amount of touch over defenders, like this one to Pat Freiermuth (video courtesy of Matt Waldman on X).
Pat Freiermuth out of the gulag? pic.twitter.com/Zu9zu9lTsR
— Matt Waldman (@MattWaldman) September 13, 2026
The issues in the run game were a bit more straightforward. Jaylen Warren and Rico Dowdle simply had no room to operate for most of the game, with almost all of their 61 combined yards coming after contact. The offensive line didn't dominate a suspect Falcons front seven the way many expected, and they will need to play much better moving forward if the run game is going to be a bigger part of the offense.
I have faith that things will settle into place with the rushing attack, at least enough to keep Rodgers from needing to put the ball in the air 40 times a game. Pittsburgh will face a much tougher opponent in the reigning AFC champion New England Patriots this week. I, for one, am interested to see if they can better execute their new offensive philosophy with more reps under their belt.
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