In less than a week, the Pittsburgh Steelers will officially begin the Mike McCarthy era with a Week 1 matchup with the Atlanta Falcons. Thanks to a quarterback situation that is somehow less tenable than the Steelers' decision to bring 42-year-old Aaron Rodgers back for one more year, much of the talk surrounding this game has been about whether the Falcons can muster any sort of passing attack against a hellacious Pittsburgh pass rush.
While that is a very important factor in how the contest will ultimately turn out, the real battle to monitor on Sunday afternoon is between the Falcons' rushing attack and the Steelers' run defense.
Bijan Robinson is considered by many (myself included) to be the NFL's premier running back heading into 2026, and he was rewarded as such this offseason with a massive contract extension. There is no doubt that Atlanta intends to lean on him this season while they navigate their shaky QB situation, and the Steelers cannot allow them to get away with it in Week 1.
The Pittsburgh Steelers top priority in Week 1 is to slow down Falcons' running back Bijan Robinson
To be clear, I don't want to completely dismiss the talents of players like Drake London and Kyle Pitts: they are major threats in their own right. But it's much harder to get those players involved consistently when Tua Tagovailoa is your starting QB at this stage of his career. There is a reason the Dolphins chose to take the biggest dead cap hit in league history to release him instead of running it back.
Robinson doesn't have that limitation as a running back, and even his impact in the receiving game is much easier to access, even with a QB as limited as Tua. Falcons head coach Kevin Stefanski knows how impactful a running back of Robinson's caliber can be for an offense from his days coaching the recently retired Nick Chubb, and I expect him to be willing to hand him the ball as many times as it takes to keep the offense on schedule.
It's the Steelers job, then, to keep that from happening.
While I still have major questions about the linebacker play for Pittsburgh, their defensive front should be among the best in the league yet again in 2026. The ageless Cameron Heyward was as good as ever in run defense a year ago, and 2025 first-round pick Derrick Harmon looks poised for a breakout year in that category in particular.
Add in the move to put second-year defensive tackle Yahya Black at nose tackle instead of Keeanu Benton, and this could be one of the tougher fronts to run on in the NFL this year. Their first chance to prove it will be one of their toughest assignments all year, and the Steelers' Week 1 hopes may rest on it.
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