T.J. Watt's dominant day helps the Steelers begin the Mike McCarthy era with a win

Gerry Dulac, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette on Sep 13, 2026

Published in Football

By clicking submit, I authorize Arcamax and its affiliates to: (1) use, sell, and share my information for marketing purposes, including cross-context behavioral advertising, as described in our Privacy Policy , (2) add to information that I provide with other information like interests inferred from web page views, or data lawfully obtained from data brokers, such as past purchase or location data, or publicly available data, (3) contact me or enable others to contact me by email or other means with offers for different types of goods and services, and (4) retain my information while I am engaging with marketing messages that I receive and for a reasonable amount of time thereafter. I understand I can opt out at any time through an email that I receive, or by clicking here

PITTSBURGH — It wasn’t pretty, to be sure, but the Steelers began the Mike McCarthy era with a 20-13 victory against the Atlanta Falcons on Sunday at Acrisure Stadium.

And they saw the dominating return of a familiar face along the way.

Outside linebacker T.J. Watt looked like his old self in a five-play span in the second half, during which he recorded a sack, two tackles for loss and a 35-yard interception return for touchdown that gave the Steelers a 20-10 lead.

But it wasn’t only Watt. Defensive end Cam Heyward had a half-sack and batted three passes by Falcons quarterback Cooper Rush at the line of scrimmage.

The Steelers sacked Rush four times — twice by Watt — and also had two interceptions. New Steelers safety Jaquan Brisker had the interception that led to the Steelers’ only offensive touchdown.

Falcons running back Bijan Robinson combined for 173 scrimmage yards against new defensive coordinator Patrick Graham’s defense, including eight receptions for 90 yards. But the unit did not allow a play longer than 24 yards.

Even with a new coach and play-caller in McCarthy, it was another slow start for the offense, which has failed to score more than seven points in the first quarter for an NFL-high 71 consecutive regular-season games.

Aaron Rodgers passed for 221 yards and a touchdown, but he did not get a lot of help from his receivers. DK Metcalf dropped two passes and Roman Wilson failed to come up with a catch on what could have been a 44-yard touchdown.

Nor did he get any help from the running game, which finished with 61 yards on 18 carries before three consecutive kneel-downs at the end. They did not have a run longer than 6 yards into the fourth quarter.

The Steelers led at halftime, 13-7, but McCarthy’s offense looked disjointed and out of sync from the start. They squandered three scoring opportunities in the first half, forcing them to settle for Chris Boswell field goals.

In their season-opening win, the Steelers also benefited from two missed field goals by Falcons kicker Nick Folk.

____