Steelers Now
The announcers for the Pittsburgh Steelers’ Week 1 game against the New York Jets in the Meadowlands have been revealed. The CBS crew will be Ian Eagle (play-by-play), J.J. Watt (color) and Evan Washburn (sideline).
It will mark J.J. Watt’s first game as a color analyst for the network. His first time in the booth was last year when Netflix had the Steelers-Chiefs game on Christmas Day.
The Eagle, Watt and Washburn crew will also announce the Steelers’ Week 3 game against the New England Patriots in Foxborough. J.J. Watt is a part of CBS’s No. 2 crew, so there will probably more occasions in 2025 were he calls his brother T.J. Watt’s games.
The Week 1 showdown between the Steelers and Jets has a slew of headlines. Steelers quarterback Aaron Rodgers returns to MetLife Stadium after a nasty breakup with the Jets organization. Jets QB Justin Fields will also be out for revenge on the Steelers.
Rodgers is not afraid to speak his mind, especially when someone crosses him. That was the case with the Jets this offseason when they released the four-time NFL MVP. How the Jets handled the whole situation did not sit well with Rodgers.
“That’s the way it goes sometimes,” Rodgers told Kyle Brandt of NFL Network when asked about the Steelers facing the Jets in Week 1. “Did they have any inside information? I don’t know. Who were they talking to? I don’t know. But, start off with the Jets, then play Seattle, where DK (Metcalf) just came from… But I’m excited. Get to play the Jets, play the Packers, play the Bears, play the Vikings. It’ll be fun.”
Game Announcers for Week 1 of the @NFLonCBS pic.twitter.com/CA0NkWwGaQ
— CBS Sports PR (@CBSSportsGang) August 6, 2025
According to former NFL offensive lineman Mark Schlereth, who is a close friend of Rodgers, the future Hall of Fame quarterback went on a long-winded rant about how dysfunctional the Jets’ organization was during his two-year tenure.
“Aaron and I had a conversation about when he was with the Jets was how abysmal their running game was and how schematically it made no sense,” Schlereth said on The Stinkin Truth Podcast in June. “I started the conversation, and then Aaron went on for about a 25-minute diatribe on just their run game.”
During an interview with Pat McAfee in April, Rodgers recounted flying to New York to meet with Jets head coach Aaron Glenn, and that meeting going very poorly.
“I think we’re gonna have this long conversation,” Rodgers said. “I’ve flown across the country. Twenty seconds in … I’m talking to the GM about something and [Glenn] leans to the edge of his seat and goes, ‘So, do you want to play football?’
“And I was like, ‘Yeah, I’m interested.’
“Then he says, ‘We’re going in a different direction at quarterback.’”
Glenn is not worried about the media attention heading into the Week 1 game against the Steelers at MetLife Stadium.
“This is the...
