Noah Hiles: A win is a win, but the first game of the McCarthy era felt unfortunately familiar

PITTSBURGH — There are no easy wins in the NFL. Every victory should be celebrated, even the ugly ones.

But it’s hard to ignore the way the Steelers ground their way to a 20-13 win against the Atlanta Falcons on Sunday at Acrisure Stadium. Their Week 1 win felt rather … familiar.

On a day that marked the beginning of a new era, the Steelers looked like they were still playing under the old regime. Mike McCarthy earned his first win in black and gold, but his team made it happen with the Mike Tomlin formula.

Let’s start with the good.

The Steelers defense was rock solid. The unit limited the Falcons to just 238 yards of total offense.

Had Jaylen Warren not fumbled in the second quarter and set the Falcons up with favorable field position, they likely wouldn’t have reached the end zone all day. Third-string quarterback Cooper Rush looked like a third-string quarterback, thanks largely to consistent pressure up front from start to finish.

“We have a lot of the same guys on this team, guys that have been here before,” linebacker Alex Highsmith said. “Obviously, the scheme is different, but we know who is in our locker room. We know the guys we have. We have a lot of experienced guys and a lot of playmakers.”

The Steelers highest-paid players — drafted, developed and extended under Tomlin’s leadership — played like stars.

Highsmith tallied two sacks, including one on a key third-down play in the fourth quarter. Cam Heyward continued to prove that age is nothing but a number. And most notably, T.J. Watt, Heyward’s longtime partner in crime, took over the game to ensure the Steelers came out on top.

Coming off perhaps the most disappointing season of his stellar career, Watt was back to being a game-breaker. He recorded two sacks, another tackle for loss and a pick-six in the fourth quarter that proved to be the winning score.

Had Watt not thrown on his red cape to save the day, the Steelers might have suffered an inexcusable loss.

His takeaway was one of the two Steelers touchdowns on the day. The other was a 6-yard snag by Pat Freiermuth, a score made possible thanks to an interception by free-agent addition and former Gateway standout Jaquan Brisker.

“It’s crazy, because I think last year, I dreamed of this moment,” Brisker said. “I didn’t know what team I was going to be on, but I literally had a dream that I’d have a pick in the middle of the field. It came today.”

Perhaps McCarthy should ask Brisker to start dreaming of better results from the offense, because when discussing the bad, there’s plenty to cover on that side of the football.

After the Steelers spent the entire offseason talking about a new scheme under McCarthy, one that would be enhanced by a handful of new pass-catching threats, their first showing was underwhelming to say the least.

The Steelers gained 264 net yards of offense, just 26 more than their opponent. They were just 3 for 13 on third down. And unlike the Falcons, McCarthy’s offense was at full strength, matched up against an opponent that was without two of its top talents on the defensive line.

Aaron Rodgers made a few nice throws but looked to be out of sync with his receivers just as often. He finished the day with 221 yards and one touchdown on 24-for-40 passing. Communication looked to be an issue, evidenced by a slew of pre-snap penalties and timeouts used to prevent more.

“It was a little herky-jerky, starting with me,” McCarthy said. “Getting into a flow was a bit challenging.”

Rodgers’ main target, DK Metcalf, had a day to forget. The man making an annual average of $33 million a year was targeted 10 times but caught just four balls for 40 yards. Metcalf dropped multiple passes and was flagged twice for offensive pass interference.

The Steelers’ rushing attack wasn’t much better. Warren led the team with 46 yards on 10 carries but had a costly fumble. New backfield partner Rico Dowdle had just 15 yards on eight carries. For a while, the Steelers essentially abandoned the run, likely due to an underwhelming outing from the offensive line.

Again, does any of this sound familiar?

At the end of the day, the Steelers did enough to get the job done. You play whoever is on the schedule. And McCarthy’s team was lucky to open its season against a bad Falcons team.

There are no apologies due from this result — but the process must absolutely improve moving forward.

The Steelers will chalk up Sunday’s sloppiness to it being the first game. They’ll remind you that this was the first time this unit has competed together, that most of the key players were inactive throughout the preseason.

Nonetheless, when it came time to play, the Steelers offense looked underprepared and overwhelmed — something McCarthy admitted after the win.

“We clearly have a lot to correct tomorrow,” McCarthy said. “It’s a good place to be after your first win and know that you have room for improvement.”

This team looked like a squad built to win through its defense, with an offense that could do nothing more than hang around until it had a short field to capitalize upon.

It’s just one week into the McCarthy era. The Steelers are 1-0 under their new coach. But to keep the good times rolling, they’ll need to take a massive step forward on the offensive side of the ball, which he was brought in to improve.

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