The Pittsburgh Steelers were able to win their first game of the 2026 season in Week 1 as the team took down the Atlanta Falcons at home. The group won by a score of 20-13, and the Steelers should have had some more separation, but there were a few errors on special teams and the offense couldn't really get anything going. The offense had some chances to make things happen, but there were a few drops along with some no calls that made the offensive day look a lot worse than it was.
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Steelers' Aaron Rodgers walks off the field after opening the 2026 season with a win over the Atlanta Falcons.
Quarterback Aaron Rodgers was relied upon heavily in the win over the Falcons as he threw the ball 40 times. Yards on the ground were hard to come by, which led to Pittsburgh relying on the passing game. Ideally, the group will have a more balanced attack moving forward, but that just wasn't the case against Atlanta. Rodgers struggled to get things going with his wide receivers. There were a few tough plays from DK Metcalf, and Roman Wilson also had a chance to make a big play in the end zone but a defender was able to hit him and break things up.
Backup quarterback Mason Rudolph appeared on The Christian Kuntz Podcast on Thursday, and he shared that wide receivers have a lot going on working with Rodgers and a lot of them are a bit paranoid.
"Anything I can do to help prepare the receivers, because they've got a lot on their plate," Rudolph said. "Not to mention the signals they can get right before the snap, they're paranoid as absolute crap. Certainly they were last year, but a second year with Aaron, knowing how he operates, I've really seen all those guys get more comfortable and grow."
Playing with Rodgers as a pass catcher means playing with a ton of pressure. The veteran quarterback holds his wide receivers to a high standard, and that has been evident throughout his career. He has not been shy to speak out against players when they mess up, and it is clear that he is very detail-oriented when it comes to how he wants certain routes run and what he wants the timing to be.
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Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Aaron Rodgers (8) during 2026 training camp at Saint Vincent College in Latrobe, PA.
Rodgers has had situations in his past where he has called wide receivers out for their mistakes. A notable instance of this was when he called out Mike Williams while the two were with the New York Jets back during the 2024 season. He even called out Wilson recently after the two had a miscommunication during a practice. Wilson was basically benched in the second half of the 2025 season, and it was thought that the reasoning was due to his connection with Rodgers. The Steelers brought in veteran wide receivers to replace him.
Steelers Have Set A Dangerous Precedent With Aaron Rodgers
It would be hard not to feel paranoid while being a receiver in Pittsburgh. The organization has set a dangerous precedent as it allowed Wilson to be benched near the end of the 2025 season while bringing in veteran wide receivers instead. That was with a different coaching staff, but there is plenty of reason to be paranoid as a wide receiver in this offense. That is especially true if a player is not an accomplished wideout like Metcalf or Michael Pittman Jr. Wilson and Germie Bernard could feel like any mistake might put them on the bench.
It would be hard not to feel paranoid playing with a quarterback who is as accomplished as Rodgers and that has the reputation that he carries around. However, the franchise also poured gasoline on the situation with how it handled things in 2025. Rudolph has done all he could to help the wideouts learn the offense and how Rodgers wants things done, which is certainly an important job.
What do you think about these comments from Rudolph? Let me know on X, @brogannoey!
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