Pats Pulpit
The New England Patriots return home in Week 3, hosting a longtime rival at Gillette Stadium: the Pittsburgh Steelers will come to town in a battle of 1-1 teams. The Steelers are still led by longtime head coach Mike Vrabel, but are field starting a new quarterback this year: Aaron Rodgers.
In order to find out more about the new-look team, we reached out to Ryan Parish of Pats Pulpit’s sister site Behind the Steel Curtain — the SB Nation community for all things Steelers. Here is what he told us about the upcoming game and what to expect from New England’s Week 3 opponent.
1. What impact has Aaron Rodgers made on the Steelers’ offense, both on the field and as a leader?
Two weeks in, it’s hard to have any definitive takes, but the style of play has noticeably changed. With Russell Wilson and Justin Fields, the Steelers were essentially limited to the areas of the field outside the hashes. Rodgers led the Steelers to a comeback win over the Jets in Week 1 and had the Steelers in a position to win last week before a tipped-ball interception in the endzone and a kick return gaffe provided the Seahawks with a 14-point swing. The Steelers aren’t going as deep as often as they did last year, but that’s a fault I’m placing more on the line than with Rodgers.
2. Is DK Metcalf being put in the best position to succeed after being traded to and getting a big new contract from the Steelers? I was surprised to see that Jaylen Warren is the team’s receiving yards leader and Calvin Austin has more explosive catches.
I think some of the stats you’re citing are a bit noisy because we’ve only had two games played. Warren has only 3 yards more than Metcalf on the year, and a lot of that came from a 65-yard catch and run to the back against Seattle. As for Austin, he had a pair of big catches in Week 1 and then no-showed for much of Week 2.
As for Metcalf, he left some meat on the bone in Week 1. In that game, he caught four passes for 83 yards on seven targets, including a screen he turned into a big gain. But he also had a pair of drops that would have pushed him past the 100-yard mark if he’d secured them. Against Seattle, he had three receptions for 20 yards and a score. Seattle gave him a lot of attention, and the box score reflects that.
We haven’t seen him winning on many vertical routes yet as a Steeler, but I wouldn’t put that on him or Rodgers. The Steelers’ line has had its struggles, and the lack of depth behind Metcalf allows opposing teams to use coverage shells that take away many of the vertical routes he’s made his money on in previous years.
**3. The Steelers are known for being strong in the trenches. Have this year’s...
