The Pittsburgh Steelers are 1-0 after a 20-13 victory against the Atlanta Falcons on Sept. 13 at Acrisure Stadium.
The stars played a big part in getting them there. T.J. Watt returned a fourth-quarter interception for a touchdown to provide the game-winning points. Veteran receiver Michael Pittman Jr. – the headliner of the team’s 2026 free agent class – caught three passes for 58 yards. And Alex Highsmith knifed through Atlanta blockers to record two sacks of his own.
Add it all up, and the positives were plentiful for first-year coach Mike McCarthy in his debut.
Here’s a look at some of the highlights and lowlights through the eyes of Pro Football Focus evaluators, who study every play on film to grade each player individually. For context,
players are graded on a 0-100 scale.
Aaron Rodgers (80.5)
The number that jumps off the page for the future Hall of Fame quarterback is an average depth of target (ADOT) of 10.1 yards. In former offensive coordinator Arthur Smith’s system a year ago, he averaged just 6.6 yards per throw. That was a career low. He also recorded the fastest average time to throw of his career at 2.60 seconds. Sunday, that figure was 2.84. McCarthy is giving him the time and encouragement to look down the field and resemble something much closer to the Rodgers of his MVP-winning days with the Packers. He may not be quite that good physically anymore, robbing him of some of the pocket maneuverability he once had. Still, Steelers fans will likely love seeing him a bit more in his element than he was under Arthur Smith. Especially if receivers like DK Metcalf and Roman Wilson can start actually coming down with more passes than they did Sunday.
T.J. Watt (92.3)
If he keeps playing like this, he might have one more defensive player of the year award in him with the Packers’ Micah Parsons and the Rams’ Myles Garrett both injured this season. It wasn’t just the game-winning interception return that was encouraging, even as it was clearly the exclamation point. It was two sacks. It was four total pressures of Falcons quarterback Cooper Rush. It was four stops, which PFF defines as plays that result in failure for an opposing offense on a given down. Those helped contain Atlanta star Bijan Robinson to just 83 yards across his 21 carries for the afternoon. Watt was everywhere, a stark departure from last season when he had just seven sacks and 49 pressures, his worst total in a healthy season since his rookie campaign in 2017.
Troy Fautanu (44.4)
The early returns on his transition back to left tackle weren’t promising. The veteran in his third season allowed three pressures of Rodgers – two hurries and a hit. That was the most of any Steelers offensive lineman. And his run blocking score was an ugly 37.4. None of the other Steelers regulars scored worse than a 55.8 in that category, even as the team averaged an inefficient 2.8 yards per carry. Fautanu hasn’t protected a quarterback’s blindside since before lefty Michael Penix Jr. arrived at Washington in 2023, so some growing pains were to be expected here. Still, had former teammate Broderick Jones turned in this type of performance, he’d be getting crushed for it. So it’s only fair to note that Fautanu needs to be better.
Jamel Dean (78.6) and Jaquan Brisker (78.1)
Playing without injured teammate Joey Porter Jr., the defense’s key offseason acquisitions were great. Between them, they were challenged just three times by Rush. They allowed a pair of receptions for 27 yards, but Briker picked off the third pass to set up the offense’s only touchdown of the day. Top Atlanta receiver Drake London managed just two catches for 29 yards, so that’s a credit to Dean, who overcame being banged up for portions of this game as well.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Steelers PFF grades: Aaron Rodgers gets high marks for downfield looks
