The Pittsburgh Steelers shut down the Atlanta Falcons’ offense in Week 1 for the most part. They held star RB Bijan Robinson largely in check, limiting him to 83 yards rushing on 23 carries. He did do damage in the passing game, catching eight passes for 90 yards and a touchdown, though.

However, the defense responded with a touchdown of its when OLB T.J. Watt snagged his first career pick-six in the fourth quarter. That capped a stellar performance that earned Watt the AFC Defensive Player of the Week award.

Watt was certainly the highlight of a defense that locked up the Falcons’ offense all game. The performance certainly caught analyst Brian Baldinger’s eyes.

“I texted our buddy, Andy Weidl, after watching the defense,” Baldinger said Thursday on Move The Sticks with Daniel Jeremiah. “I said they got a chance to be the best defense in football. But they might lead the league in takeaways. They’ve got a chance. With their speed, youth, combination of the vets, and what Cam Heyward, he leads the league right now in deflected passes, batted balls. And T.J.’s in the passing lanes.

“They’ve got a chance to be really good. And they know it… All those young guys, [Nick] Herbig, [T.J.] Sawyer, Yayha Black, all those guys are going to be good players. Payton Wilson already is. They’ve got horses everywhere.”

Obviously, Baldinger thought highly enough of what he saw to reach out to Weidl with his thoughts. And perhaps Weidly agrees with Baldinger on the state of the Steelers’ defense, based on Baldinger saying, “And they know it.”

The Steelers held the Falcons to 238 total yards of offense. They sacked Falcons QB Cooper Rush four times and forced two turnovers. The Falcons only managed 3.9 yards per rush, too.

The Steelers could not have asked for much better of a defensive start to the season. The performance, statistically and on tape, has Baldinger excited for what the Steelers’ defense could do this season.

The offense was not as good as people hoped, though. With the Falcons’ top two pass rushers out, QB Aaron Rodgers and the new-look offense under new head coach Mike McCarthy weren’t able to take advantage.

The Steelers only scored 20 points, and the defense accounted for one of their two touchdowns. Rodgers only completed 24 of his 40 passing attempts for 221 yards and a touchdown.

However, the statistics do not tell the whole story of the offense. After the game, Rodgers talked about how the offense “did a lot of good things” process-wise, but the results just weren’t there. Some of the issues were self-inflicted, like drops.

“If they would catch the ball in that game, if the receivers caught the ball, they’re putting 40 up,” Baldinger said. “Aaron couldn’t put it any better than he did to DK [Metcalf] a couple of times, to Roman Wilson. The ball’s right there on the tee. He’s gotta squeeze it.”

If you don’t believe Baldinger, then look at what the analytics have to say. According to a study of Week 1 offenses, the Steelers lost nearly 12 points simply due to drops. This wasn’t the same old Steelers offense. Rodgers pushed the ball down the field more than he ever did at any point in 2025. If the wide receivers, starting with DK Metcalf, can start hauling in some of those passes, the Steelers might cause opposing defenses issues this year.

Couple that with a defense that Baldinger thinks could lead the league in takeaways, and that’s a recipe for success.