The Steelers will hit the road for the first time this season when they visit Gillette Stadium for an NFL Week 2 matchup against the New England Patriots in Foxboro, Mass.
Pittsburgh is 1-0 after holding off the pesky Falcons in Week 1 at Acrisure Stadium and looking to shake off what coach Mike McCarthy called a “herky jerky” performance offensively.
The matchup comes almost exactly a year after the Steelers claimed a rare 21-14 road win against their frequent nemesis thanks to five forced turnovers for the defense.
Here’s a look at what to watch for as McCarthy’s team looks to turn some heads early by beating the reigning AFC champions.
Will DK Metcalf validate Aaron Rodgers’ belief in him?
The future
Hall of Fame quarterback wasn’t hearing any of the criticism of his top receiver this week.
“I'm not worried about DK at all, man,” Rodgers told reporters in his Wednesday media scrum. “I love DK. He's one of my closest friends on the team, and I'm going to keep feeding him.”
The data is pretty damning, though. Metcalf caught just four of his 10 targets against the Falcons for 40 yards. Pro Football Focus charged him with a drop and credited him with just two catches across five contested targets. This follows a 2025 debut with the Steelers in which he caught just eight of 24 contested targets. His 33% catch percentage on those plays ranked 66th among NFL receivers with at least 50 targets.
A No. 1 receiver on a five-year, $150 million contract is simply expected to come down with more of those. Had he done so Sunday, it could have been a huge day. His average depth of target for the afternoon was 19 yards, so there were nearly 200 yards of plays to be made.
Instead, Rodgers finished with 221 yards and an inefficient average of 5.5 per attempt in a performance that, at least statistically, mimicked a lot of what we saw from him in Arthur Smith’s more conservative offense in 2025.
It was, at least, an encouraging sign that the plays were there to be made in McCarthy’s more pass-friendly offense. If anything, that piles more pressure on Metcalf to figure things out – and quickly – following his quiet performance in the January playoff loss in January, in which he caught just two of five targets for 42 yards. And his late-season suspension for getting into an altercation with a fan in Detroit.
Will Patrick Graham run literally any man-to-man?
Mike Tomlin and defensive coordinator Teryl Austin leaned harder and harder into man coverage schemes during his later years as Steelers coach.
Graham deployed none against the Falcons. Per PFF data, his schemes were 100% zone, which he insisted Monday was a happy accident.
“I've told you guys before, my philosophy is what's best for that week usually,” Graham told reporters. “We got guys that can play man, guys that can play zone. The beautiful thing now — it's always been like this — zone coverage you have an element of man on the side a lot of times anyway. You have three deep and the backside could be manned up. You have quarters. They don't talk about us being as evolved as the offenses, but we have some things up our sleeve, too, you know.”
Regardless of what’s up his proverbial sleeve against the Falcons, it was hard to argue with the results of his calls against the Falcons. Atlanta wide receivers and tight ends totaled just 53 yards on four catches. Almost all of Cooper Rush’s production at QB came on throws to running back Bijan Robinson underneath.
QB Drake Maye and the Patriots figure to be a tougher test, so it will be interesting to see what lengths Graham does – or does not – go to to mix things up.
Will the running game have another tough week?
The Steelers totaled just 58 yards on the ground against the Falcons. Were it not for a 17 yards run from Jaylen Warren on the final drive, that already concerning number would look substantially worse.
The Patriots, meanwhile, were one of the NFL’s best teams against the run in 2025. They ranked sixth, allowing an average of 101.7 rushing yards per game.
Last season, Warren and running mate Kenneth Gainwell totaled just 63 yards and averaged just 2.5 yards per carry in the road win against the Patriots.
It all frames Sunday as an important early test of whether McCarthy can prevent his offense from becoming one dimensional against an elite opponent.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Aaron Rodgers has always had favorites at receiver. DK Metcalf under pressure to be one
