Steelers @ Jets Recap - Aaron Rodgers Shines in Steelers Debut
Well, that’s not how I envisioned that game playing out.
The Pittsburgh Steelers stormed Metlife Stadium and beat the Jets 34-32 in what was expected to be the lowest-scoring matchup of the week. Instead, we got an absolute show from both offenses in a high-scoring affair that included seven lead changes, and a 60-yard go-ahead field goal near the end of the game from one of the best kickers in league history, Chris Boswell. Obviously, in order for all that to play out, our league’s-highest-paid defense had to wet the bed a little bit, but I’ll get to that in a moment. First, we talk about that baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaad man.
It has been a roller coaster ride of a summer for the Steelers and Aaron Rodgers, but it all culminated in a hell of a debut against his former team, the New York Jets. He finished 22/30 (73%) for 244 yards and four touchdowns. I think what struck me the most on the first (live) watch of the game was the number of receivers he was getting involved. Seven guys caught passes from Aaron Rodgers on Sunday, and six of those guys had multiple receptions. The seventh guy that finished with one catch was Ben Skowronek, whose lone reception just happened to be the offenses’ first touchdown of the 2025 season. I wonder what the Vegas odds were on that one.
I think we owe Arthur Smith a ton of credit for this win as well; he was pretty deep in his bag drawing up some easy, quick looks to guys like Jonnu Smith or DK Metcalf, who was able to break a couple of them for explosive plays. DK finished this one with four catches for 83 yards (20.8 avg), which is fantastic. Someone I really want to show a lot of love to is Calvin Austin III. I wrote about his expectations coming into this year, and how he’s going to have to have a career year in that WR2 role, and he got off to as good a start as you can ask for from him: four receptions, 70 yards and a touchdown. How ‘bout that back-shoulder fade late in the first half? 5'9 where?? WR2.
I’m extremely optimistic after seeing how the offense was able to move the ball, but the offensive line was really manhandled in this game, specifically on the outside at the tackle spots. It didn’t matter if it was the run game or in pass protection, it was a bit of a bloodbath from start to finish. We finished with 2.7 yards per carry as a team, and Aaron Rodgers was sacked four times. Three of those sacks and a shit ton of pressures came from the left side, where Broderick Jones was, unfortunately, getting beat quickly and often. In my pregame thoughts, I mentioned that the Jets were probably going to move Will McDonald IV to the opposite end of their d-line so they could attack Broderick Jones, and they did just that. He finished with 2 sacks and 3 QB hits. I know the fanbase is low on Jones; I’m there too, but it is just week one. I don’t wanna kill him here, but he simply can’t put too many more games like that out on tape, or he is going to get flat-out benched. We may have a problem on the blind side.
On defense, my concerns are less severe because of the amount of talent on that unit, but we gave up 32 points to a Jets offense that’s not supposed to be very good. Two things stood out to me the most. Number one, and most notably, we were absolutely pitiful defending the zone read. That’s essentially two games in a row now, @ BAL in the Wild Card game and @ NYJ on Sunday, that teams have had their way with us running the zone read. That clip of Justin Fields shaking his head as he scampered untouched to the endzone on Sunday really encapsulates the team's inability to defend that damn play. There are a million factors that go into a bad game defending the run like that, but I thought Keeanu Benton and Patrick Queen really struggled in this one with the former getting pushed off the LOS often, and the latter trying to, perhaps, do too much to his detriment. I hate to double back on Benton, but it’s really hard for guys in the second and third level to play the run effectively if the trenches are getting blown up regularly, and those o-linemen are getting to the second level. Keeanu Benton found himself on the ground too often in this one, and it resulted in some big plays. He must be better, or someone else needs to be playing NT; Yahya Black, for example, who looked solid in this game. It was a really tough day for us in the trenches.
T.J. Watt and Alex Highsmith were probably the Steelers’ two best defensive players in this game. Highsmith was a demon rushing off the edge, finishing with eight pressures and a sack. T.J. Watt was only able to record a few pressures, but he had three monster run stops, and lord knows we needed them.
As bad as we were against the run, we were equally as bad against the pass. That’s the second thing that stood out to me the most. Justin Fields finished 16/22 (73%) for 218 yards and three total touchdowns. There were some concerning moments on the back end, like Darius Slay getting burnt to a crip on a deep crosser vs. Garrett Wilson for a touchdown. There’s lots of folks out there that say we lack speed in our secondary, and it certainly felt that way on Sunday, although it’s worth noting that this group really tightened up late in the third and through the fourth quarter. And, of course, we saw the fiery nature of this group on full display, which is something I love to see, personally. For all of that to bubble up all game long, and then crescendo with a massive hit on Garrett Wilson, delivered by Jalen Ramsey, to jar the ball loose and end the ball game was absolutely spectacular. That’s Mike Tomlin football. That’s Pittsburgh Steelers football.
All in all, I didn’t expect to come out of this game being happier with the offense than I am with the defense, but here we are. Still, there are individual performances that I’m able to take away from the defensive side of the ball that have me excited to see what this bunch can be when they all gel together, but more on that later. The Steelers start the year off 1-0, and we press on to our home opener vs. Seattle.
Footnote: Just remembered this, but didn’t feel like working it into the post: the Steelers offense scored an opening drive touchdown on Sunday, something they have really struggled to do for the last several years now. It was nice to see them start a game fast for once. Also, fun fact, Sunday was the first time since September 7th, 2008 that the Steelers offense opened the season with a touchdown. Shoutout to Alex Kozora for that little tidbit.
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