By Calvin Austin,Steel City Underground

Copyright yardbarker

Steel City Underground presents post-game takeaways following each 2025 NFL regular season game that focuses on how the Pittsburgh Steelers performed, key statistics, their opponents and more!

The home opener at Acrisure Stadium in Week 2 of the 2025 NFL regular season was meant to be a game that the team and fans could be excited about. Instead, fans watched as key players exited the game due to injuries, the run defense softened up yet again, the offense struggled to put points on the board, a costly special teams error erased two interceptions and two sacks as the Seattle Seahawks won, 31-17. We present key takeaways from the game.

Whatever fixes were made were not enough

The exposition following the close win over the New York Jets in the season opener was that the team would work on fixing issues, especially the ability of the defense to improve in stopping the run. Instead, the combination of Kenneth Walker and Zach Charbonnet resulted in 115 yards of offense, 8 rushing first downs, and a touchdown. The Walker touchdown was the nail in the coffin for the Steelers.

“Certainly a disappointing home opener. There’s a lot of things that we can do better in all phases, and in coaching, and we will… We absorbed some attrition in-game. Many of those guys are new, so it’s a challenge. We certainly are capable of better than that, so we’ll keep working.” – head coach Mike Tomlin

Yes, Pittsburgh lost defensive lineman Isaiahh Loudermilk and outside linebacker Alex Highsmith to high ankle sprains, but Patrick Queen played through a rub injury and fellow interior linebacker Payton Wilson did despite heat-related illness. And, despite Tomlin saying throwing new guys into the game was a challenge, those players actually were some of the best performers; rookie Jack Sawyer led the defense in tackles and had a sack, Wilson added a sack, Yahya Black had three tackles. Nick Herbig caught a tipped Cameron Heyward block of a Sam Darnold pass attempt. And Jalen Ramsey, new to the team, had an interception as well.

Fans aren’t happy with the product they saw from their defense that also gave up 278 passing yards and two touchdowns through the air. They may have been excited by the turnovers, but it was short lived. And they expressed their disappointments all over social media after the loss. Defensive coordinator Teryl Austin is once again on notice.

Rodgers needs to get on same page with O-line

It is clear that there is still work needed between quarterback Aaron Rodgers and Pittsburgh’s offensive line. Penalty free, the line did better protecting Rodgers but the quarterback was late making decisions that resulted in him being sacked three times for a loss of 20 yards and throwing two interceptions.

One interception could be blamed on a bad route by Calvin Austin, but the other was purely Rodgers trying to force the ball down the field, into coverage.

The issues shouldn’t be contributed to Rodgers not taking preseason snaps at this point. He’s had two weeks of practice time to build a relationship with his line. He admitted after the Jets game that he needed to get the ball out quicker and not run into the grasp of defensive pressure, yet he was guilty of not preventing that against Seattle. The offensive production took a hit, too, as a result.

Warren showed great effort

While the receiving game gained 215 yards, produced a touchdown and a successful two-point conversion, running back Jaylen Warren made the most of his 14 carries. He gained an average of 3.4 yards per carry. Warren also accounted for four receptions for 86 yards, his longest a 65-yard catch and run for the biggest offensive play of the game.

Rushing partner Kenneth Gainwell was complimentary, accounting for 20 yards on five carries and 16 yards on three catches.

It’s clear, though, that the Steelers have yet to establish a dominant run game. 72 yards of rushing is mediocre and has forced the offense to be unbalanced. That starts up front.

Final thoughts

Fair or not, rookie Kaleb Johnson is going to carry the majority of the burden for this loss. The angst fans have about his costly error during a kickoff was described by Coach Tomlin as, “Poor judgment by a young player.”

There are questions about the play that need answered. Is he aware of the kickoff rules? Why didn’t he run back to cover the ball? Why didn’t his teammates yell at him to cover the ball? The biggest may be this: did any of his teammates go offer him some sideline advice or reassurances?

Sure, most fans will say he is a rookie but should know better. That he doesn’t need teammates to encourage him after such a game-killing mistake. Danny Smith can only coach him so much.

This loss, though, was a combined team defeat. The play definitely did not help, but the lack of urgency at the end of the game by the offense looked like the Steelers had given up. The poor execution throughout the game forced the team to play catch-up in the second half. Turnovers saved some bacon, but they didn’t complete the meal. Pittsburgh needs to find their groove, their identity – and do it soon.