A win is a win is a win. The guy from Greenfield is 1-0 as Steelers coach. What could be better? Refreshing Steelers notes, that’s what!
• Aaron Rodgers will continue to play as he did vs. Atlanta: Above average, not least at 42. He’s likely not capable of better, let alone over the long haul of 17 games. But against the Falcons, Rodgers was let down by his receivers, line and running game. By the officiating, too. But Rodgers still got a lot done.
• Sunday was the first Rodgers played after sitting out the entire preseason schedule. A few other first-team offensive players hadn’t played much, either, certainly not as a unit. It was like a fourth exhibition game on that side of the ball. Receivers got schemed open. The middle of the field got used. The offense will be fine.
• Why didn’t any of the other quarterbacks play? Their making or not making the team was supposed to be a big deal.
• T.J. Watt and the defense won the game. That’s certainly praiseworthy. It also justifies what Watt’s paid. What’s spent on that side of the ball. A $41 million man should be the determining factor. Watt’s pick-six was an amazing reaction in tight quarters.
• New defensive coordinator Patrick Graham gets an A. All three edge players contributed. Four, really: Jack Sawyer had four tackles. Watt, Alex Highsmith and Nick Herbig were on the field together often enough and did more than the same old, same old. The front seven was notably stout.
• Against a third-string quarterback with a bum back. New England’s Drake Maye and Cincinnati’s Joe Burrow will be tougher nuts to crack in Weeks 2 and 3.
• All three touchdowns came via takeaways. The Steelers posted four sacks, two interceptions. You could argue that the Steelers don’t need Joey Porter Jr., and they don’t. Against a third-string quarterback with a bum back, and playing 100% zone. They might need Porter against Maye and Burrow.
• The defense did well enough against phenom back Bijan Robinson, who had 173 total yards but didn’t gash the Steelers for much meaningful. Inside linebacker Peyton Wilson, who had a sketchy first two seasons, sparkled with 13 tackles, including five solo and two for loss. Jaquan Brisker got Robinson with a big hit, too.
• DK Metcalf killed the offense. He officially had two drops but a few other targets appeared catchable. He committed two offensive pass interference penalties. Four catches for 40 yards is chump change for a $33 million wideout, especially given his errors. But at least Metcalf didn’t assault a fan.
• Pat Freiermuth did fine: Five receptions and a touchdown. He’s a great fit for Mike McCarthy’s offense. Not so much for Arthur Smith’s, who spent Saturday playing fourth-quarter scaredy-cat and blowing Ohio State’s lead vs. Texas.
• The Steelers will probably trade Porter. He didn’t play. The Steelers don’t negotiate once the season starts. It seems the only option. Despite the contradiction of retaining a 42-year-old quarterback to win now, then ditching your best cornerback.
• The Steelers have in-house rules that seem a bit too sacred for a team that hasn’t won a playoff game in nine seasons.
• I don’t blame Porter for sitting. NFL contracts aren’t guaranteed by the teams. Why should they be guaranteed by the players? Anyway, Porter got paid. He was inactive.
• The presentation of Porter’s absence as him still “ramping up” after a primarily idle preseason spent mostly on the PUP list was an outright lie, but masterfully done by McCarthy.
• The Steelers logically should have re-upped Porter before extending backups Herbig, Darnell Washington and Keeanu Benton, and before a torrent of other signings at cornerback made the market at that position skyrocket. That they didn’t indicates that GM Omar Khan is incompetent, or that the Steelers simply don’t highly value Porter and/or the cornerback position.
• Mike Tomlin is excellent on NBC. A bit stiff and over-rehearsed but more opinionated, outspoken and analytic that I imagined he would be. More than just word salad and empty platitudes. Far better than Tomlin Tuesdays when he coached the Steelers.