{"id":266287,"date":"2026-08-16T06:51:07","date_gmt":"2026-08-16T06:51:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/266287\/"},"modified":"2026-08-16T06:51:07","modified_gmt":"2026-08-16T06:51:07","slug":"steelers-vs-packers-6-surprises-in-pittsburghs-preseason-win","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/266287\/","title":{"rendered":"Steelers vs. Packers: 6 Surprises in Pittsburgh’s Preseason Win"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Mike McCarthy<\/a> era got off to a winning start Thursday night, as the Pittsburgh Steelers defeated the Green Bay Packers 28-9 in their 2026 preseason opener at Acrisure Stadium.<\/p>\n

The final score won\u2019t mean much once the regular season begins, but there was plenty to take away from Pittsburgh\u2019s first live action of the summer.<\/p>\n

With Aaron Rodgers<\/a> and several other established starters sitting out, younger players and roster hopefuls were given an opportunity to make an impression. Some took full advantage, while one glaring issue gave McCarthy plenty to address when the team returns to Saint Vincent College.<\/p>\n

Here are some surprises from the Steelers\u2019 preseason-opening win over the Packers.<\/p>\n

Embed from Getty Images<\/a><\/p>\n

Kaden Wetjen shows he can contribute beyond special teams<\/p>\n

The Steelers drafted Kaden Wetjen largely because of his special teams ability as a return specialist, but the rookie showed that he may have something to offer Pittsburgh\u2019s offense too.<\/p>\n

Wetjen delivered one of the biggest plays of the game when he turned a third-and-7 reception into a 74-yard gain. He later added a four-yard touchdown catch midway through the fourth quarter to extend Pittsburgh\u2019s lead to 21-7.<\/p>\n

His speed was already the calling card that helped get him drafted. Seeing Wetjen translate some of that explosiveness to the receiver position was a welcome development.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s especially important considering the competition taking place further down Pittsburgh\u2019s wide receiver depth chart. Special teams ability may give Wetjen an advantage when final cuts arrive, but proving he can also provide something on offense would make his roster case considerably stronger.<\/p>\n

Embed from Getty Images<\/a><\/p>\n

Jamin Davis<\/a> makes a strong first impression at edge<\/p>\n

One of the more intriguing experiments at Steelers training camp has been Jamin Davis\u2019 attempt to carve out a role as an edge defender: and his first preseason game couldn\u2019t have gone much better.<\/p>\n

Davis, who played the second-most snaps on defense (one fewer than second-year linebacker Carson Bruener<\/a>) was involved in eight tackles while adding two sacks and three quarterback hits against Green Bay.<\/p>\n

For a player competing for a roster spot at a position topped by T.J. Watt<\/a>, Alex Highsmith<\/a>, and Nick Herbig<\/a>, it was exactly the type of performance needed to stand out.<\/p>\n

Davis entered the NFL as a first-round pick of the Washington Commanders in 2021, but his career hasn\u2019t followed the path typically expected of such a highly drafted player.\u00a0Pittsburgh is giving him another opportunity in a different role, and if Thursday was any indication, the Steelers may have found an interesting piece for their defensive rotation.<\/p>\n

With Jack Sawyer<\/a> still in the mix, it\u2019ll be interesting as to how many outside linebackers (3-4 edge rushers) the team retains.<\/p>\n

Embed from Getty Images<\/a><\/p>\n

Gabriel Rubio may not have been a \u201cthrowaway\u201d pick<\/p>\n

Finding room on Pittsburgh\u2019s defensive line isn\u2019t going to be easy with Cam Heyward, Derrick Harmon<\/a>, Keeanu Benton<\/a>, Yahya Black<\/a> and Sebastian Joseph-Day<\/a> having strong claims on roster spots. That leaves everyone else fighting over what could be one remaining opening.<\/p>\n

Rookie Gabriel Rubio made sure his name remained in that conversation Thursday, who\u00a0was involved in six tackles and continued finding his way around the football.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s notable for a sixth-round rookie competing in one of the deeper position groups on Pittsburgh\u2019s roster. (Especially for his first action.)<\/p>\n

The Steelers may ultimately have to decide whether carrying six defensive linemen is worth sacrificing a roster spot elsewhere. Rubio\u2019s performance against the Packers gave the coaching staff another reason to consider it.<\/p>\n

Embed from Getty Images<\/a><\/p>\n

The secondary holds up despite Pittsburgh\u2019s absences<\/p>\n

Pittsburgh played without Joey Porter<\/a> Jr., Jalen Ramsey<\/a>, Brandin Echols<\/a>, DeShon Elliott<\/a>, Jaquan Brisker<\/a> and Donte Kent, leaving the Steelers to dig deep into their secondary. But instead of collapsing, the remaining group held its own.<\/p>\n

Veterans Asante Samuel<\/a> Jr. and Rayshawn Jenkins<\/a> were among those given opportunities, while rookies Daylen Everette and Robert Spears-Jennings received valuable extended playing time.<\/p>\n

While Samuel and Everette have both stolen headlines during camp, it was \u201cRSJ\u201d who looked like a missile on the field, with three tackles (one for loss) while playing 60% of the game.<\/p>\n

Samuel was tested early and often, looking like the solid pro he was prior to his neck injury two seasons ago.<\/p>\n

Embed from Getty Images<\/a><\/p>\n

Holy smokes the penalties<\/p>\n

Perhaps the strangest part of Pittsburgh\u2019s 28-9 victory was how comfortable the final score looked considering how often the Steelers hurt themselves.<\/p>\n

Pittsburgh had 11 accepted penalties for 134 yards, including six unnecessary roughness calls.<\/p>\n

Troy Fautanu<\/a> had an especially difficult night with his first NFL action at left tackle. A false start wiped out a 25-yard completion from Mason Rudolph<\/a> to rookie Germie Bernard, while a holding penalty later erased a six-yard Lew Nichols<\/a> touchdown run.<\/p>\n

The unnecessary roughness penalties were what appeared to bother McCarthy most afterward:<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you ask your team to play with a high level of energy and play style, the discipline of that comes, and this was our first chance to play in a full-speed environment. I\u2019d rather be too much than not enough, and we were definitely too much time and time again, particularly at the end of the play.\u201d<\/p>\n

Embed from Getty Images<\/a><\/p>\n

Was it the quarterbacks or the coaching?<\/p>\n

There is something encouraging buried beneath the mistakes: Pittsburgh still won by 19 points.\u00a0That was behind a flurry of excellent quarterback play, despite Aaron Rodgers standing on the sidelines in street clothes.<\/p>\n

Mason Rudolph was the starter, and got off to a shaky start after being sacked twice. He then ripped off throws of 13, 19, and 25 yards on his next three passes.<\/p>\n

In fact, Rudolph wouldn\u2019t have an incompletion in the game until his tenth pass attempt, a throw in the back of the endzone that rookie WR Germie Bernard snatched but couldn\u2019t secure keeping his second foot inbounds. The would-be touchdown was Rudolph\u2019s only incompletion, and a fourth down attempt to score by Pat Freiermuth<\/a> was also stopped short one yard from the goal line, keeping the veteran passer from adding to his stat line for the night and ending a 16-play, 99-yard drive.<\/p>\n

Rudolph would give way to second-year quarterback Will Howard, who appeared in his first preseason action as a pro. He would play a limited amount also, but went an impressive 7-of-9 for 86 yards.<\/p>\n

Third round draft pick Drew Allar was next up and would close out the game, with an even\u00a0more impressive 10-of-13 for 153 yards passing, with two touchdowns. He would add another touchdown on the ground, ending his night with a 154.8 quarterback rating.<\/p>\n

While everyone looked good, one must ask: was it the quarterbacks or the coaching?<\/p>\n

All three players finished the evening with a QB rating over 100, and all three sustained long drives too. Perhaps, and this is premature of course, the McCarthy hire may have been the right move for the Steelers to progress further in their post Ben Roethlisberger<\/a> era.<\/p>\n

Embed from Getty Images<\/a><\/p>\n

Hidden receiving game gems?<\/p>\n

I can\u2019t close this article without mentioning the efforts of rookie WR Germie Bernard, who caught four passes for 51 yards, and TE Robert Tonyan<\/a>, who was a security blanket all evening with four catches for 61 yards.<\/p>\n

Wetjen\u2019s big play stole the spotlight, both combined with the efforts of Bernard and Tonyan, Pittsburgh may have found several hidden gem receiving threats.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Mike McCarthy era got off to a winning start Thursday night, as the Pittsburgh Steelers defeated the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":266288,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[112378,73,75,74],"class_list":["post-266287","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-pittsburgh","tag-jamin-davis","tag-pittsburgh","tag-pittsburgh-headlines","tag-pittsburgh-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/266287","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=266287"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/266287\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/266288"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=266287"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=266287"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=266287"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}