Ben Roethlisberger didn’t leave Week 1 feeling uneasy about the Pittsburgh Steelers’ win so much as he left with a clear-eyed warning about what could derail them later.
Yes, Pittsburgh opened the season with a 20-13 victory over the Atlanta Falcons. But on his “Footbahlin” podcast, Roethlisberger pointed straight at the offense’s shaky foundation: the protection in front of Aaron Rodgers and a run game that never really got going.
“I think we saw in this game... what could be the fears of this team,” Roethlisberger said on his "Footbahlin" podcast. “This season, this offense.
The lack of protection on Aaron Rodgers. The lack of a run game.
It wasn't a highly successful running game. The offensive line... it makes me nervous.”
He circled back to the same theme again, adding that Pittsburgh has to tidy up the smaller stuff too.
“The biggest thing we have to figure out, I'm broad-stroking this, is protection, run game and making sure we clean up some of the little details,” Roethlisberger said.
The concerns weren’t hard to spot. Atlanta was without both of its first-round EDGE rushers from the 2025 NFL Draft, yet Rodgers still faced steady heat. The Falcons finished with two sacks, both by Za'Darius Smith, and 17 total pressures allowed, according to Pro Football Focus.
That kind of day against a weakened pass rush is exactly why the offensive line drew so much attention all summer, especially on the right side with Spencer Anderson and Dylan Cook. Those issues showed up again in the opener.
The ground game didn’t offer much relief either. Pittsburgh managed only 58 yards on 21 carries, a 2.1-yard average, and had just one rush of 10 or more yards. Rodgers finished with 201 passing yards on 40 attempts.
There were some signs the Steelers were willing to attack more aggressively under Mike McCarthy, with an average depth of target of 10.1 yards. But the execution didn’t match the approach. DK Metcalf and Roman Wilson each had key drops that could have changed the flow of the game if they had been secured.
If Pittsburgh wants to shuffle things up, it has some choices on the line. Brock Hoffman and first-rounder Max Iheanachor are options at right guard and right tackle, respectively.
Still, there’s a reason the alarm bells shouldn’t be blaring just yet. This was the Steelers’ first regular season game under McCarthy, and some unevenness is part of that process. Metcalf, in particular, needs to answer as the No. 1 receiver, and the offense as a whole has to be better if Pittsburgh is going to stay in the playoff mix.
For now, though, the message is more caution than panic. If the offense looks this way again against the New England Patriots in Week 2, the concern will only get louder.
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