Gang Green Nation
The Jets open up their 2025 campaign, and kick off the Aaron Glenn era, as they host the Pittsburgh Steelers on Sunday afternoon. Last season, the Jets were leading the Steelers 15-6 on the road, but the game flipped on a couple of Aaron Rodgers interceptions and they ended up getting blown out. Will this meeting turn out any different?
Let’s break down the Steelers roster, going position-by-position:
Quarterbacks
Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you’ll be well aware of the big storyline in this game as quarterbacks Justin Fields and Aaron Rodgers aim to defeat the teams they were the opening day starters for last year. It’s the first such meeting of opposing quarterbacks in NFL history.
Last year’s meeting had its own big quarterback storyline, though, as this was the game where Fields was benched for Russell Wilson despite having led the Steelers to a 4-2 start while Wilson was getting healthy.
Rodgers put up good numbers last season, although he did so as the Jets ran the ball less than any other NFL team. While he fell well short of the player he once was last year, he’s now one more year removed from his September 2023 Achilles tear. The Jets will be clinging to the hope that he has had four bad season openers in a row, losing all of them apart from the one in 2023 where he was injured and Zach Wilson beat the Bills after coming off the bench.
We have a good idea of what to expect from Rodgers. He’ll get rid of the ball quickly, may force a few throws and could find that he’s not on the same page as his receiver from time to time. The Jets just need to be careful not to let him get into a rhythm because he’ll have a good idea of where to attack most of the Jets’ defensive personnel.
Two journeymen backups, Mason Rudolph and Skylar Thompson, are on standby although Thompson likely won’t be active after suffering a hamstring injury in practice. As we saw last year, Rodgers will want to remain in the game even if he gets banged up anyway.
Offensive Line
Three of the Steelers’ starters were rookies last year as they have second-rounder Zach Frazier at center, fourth-rounder Mason McCormick at right guard and first-rounder Troy Fautanu at right tackle.
Frazier is a player everyone, including Rodgers, has been raving about and he looks like he might be on a path towards being considered the league’s top center before too long. He only gave up one sack last year.
McCormick is an excellent athlete who was a mixed bag in the running game last year but only gave up two sacks and had two penalties.
Fautanu’s rookie season was wrecked by a dislocated kneecap so he’s only started one game at the NFL level. However, it was the other tackle, Broderick Jones, who was a weak link last season as he gave up 10 sacks and...
