Falcons vs. Steelers: T.J. Watt's Stumbling Pick-Six Rescues Aaron Rodgers and Pittsburgh in Week 1

T.J. Watt tripped over his own feet in the middle of the biggest play of the day, hit the turf, popped back up and kept running like nothing happened. Honestly, that's the Steelers' whole Week 1 in one clip: messy, a little clumsy and absolutely effective.

Watt's 35-yard interception return for a touchdown, 55 seconds into the fourth quarter, broke open a tight game, and the Pittsburgh Steelers held off the Atlanta Falcons 20-13 on Sunday at Acrisure Stadium. Mike McCarthy got a win in his first regular-season game coaching his hometown team, and Aaron Rodgers handed him the game ball.

Ugly, Uneven and Just Enough

Nobody will mistake this one for art. Pittsburgh opened the scoring with a 43-yard Chris Boswell field goal, then handed Atlanta a gift when Jaylen Warren fumbled in his own territory. Cooper Rush, the late replacement for Tua Tagovailoa, flipped a swing pass to Bijan Robinson, who slalomed through three would-be tacklers for a 23-yard touchdown. 7-3 Falcons.

The Steelers punched back. Boswell hit from 28, and on Atlanta's very next snap Jaquan Brisker picked off a Rush throw meant for Jahan Dotson and returned it 10 yards to the Atlanta 31. Four plays later, on third-and-3, Rodgers danced away from trouble long enough to spot Pat Freiermuth, who tapped both feet inbounds at the back of the end zone for a 6-yard score. 13-7, with 10:39 left in the half.

Then the offense took a long nap: three punts and two turnovers on downs over its next six possessions. Atlanta couldn't cash in, mostly because Nick Folk lost the plot. Folk came in having missed exactly one field goal in each of the past three seasons, then misfired on his first two attempts while this was still a one-score game. He finally connected from 51 late in the third quarter to make it 13-10.

After the Watt touchdown, Folk's 43-yarder made it 20-13 with 10:35 left, and Boswell missed one of his own. Pittsburgh then took over at its own 8 with 4:16 to go and never gave it back. Rodgers hit DK Metcalf, Michael Pittman Jr. and Darnell Washington, and Warren's 9-yard run moved the chains at the two-minute warning with Atlanta out of timeouts.

T.J. Watt Is Not Done Yet

The noise coming into the season said Watt had slipped. He finished 2025 with seven sacks, tied for the second-fewest of his career, missed several games late after a freak dry needling injury and is closing in on his 32nd birthday.

His reply: four tackles, three tackles for loss, two sacks, two quarterback hits, a pass defensed and a touchdown. That's not a bounce-back game. That's a formal complaint filed with the league office.

"That’s what he does," longtime teammate Alex Highsmith said. "He's the best in the world."

Highsmith had a pair of sacks himself, Payton Wilson piled up 13 tackles with two for loss, and Cam Heyward batted down three passes at the line. Rush finished 12 of 22 for 143 yards with a touchdown, two interceptions and a 3.7 QBR, which is less a stat than a cry for help.

Robinson was Atlanta's entire resistance movement. He ran 21 times for 83 yards and caught eight passes for 90 more, accounting for 173 of the Falcons' 238 total yards. Everybody else combined for 65. Drake London caught two balls. Kyle Pitts Sr. was targeted once and caught nothing.

"Bijan's a great player," Falcons coach Kevin Stefanski said. "We're going to keep leaning on him in all these games, and we have to."

Rodgers, starting his 22nd and final season, went 24 of 40 for 221 yards and a touchdown. Metcalf dropped a couple of passes and the run game went nowhere, but that closing drive showed the closer instincts are still in there.

The Stumble That Won the Game

Atlanta trailed 13-10 early in the fourth quarter, and Rush looked for a quick dump-off to Robinson. Watt saw it coming, went up and took the ball away almost before it had a chance to travel. What followed looked like a blooper with a happy ending. Watt's feet got tangled, he went down, nobody touched him, and he simply got back up and finished the 35-yard trip. Picture Kramer sliding through Jerry's door, except Kramer then scores a touchdown.

"I had no bearing at all," Watt said. "I'm sure the fall didn't look too graceful but glad someone told me to get up and keep running."

Numbers That Tell the Story

• 173 of 238: Bijan Robinson's share of Atlanta's total yards.
• 4 and 6: Steelers sacks and passes defensed.
• 96: Atlanta's penalty yards on nine flags.
• 2 of 4: Nick Folk on field goals, with both misses coming while the outcome was in doubt.
• 58: Pittsburgh's rushing yards, a reminder the offense is still under construction.

McCarthy's Homecoming, Stefanski's Headache

McCarthy grew up a few miles from downtown Pittsburgh, and getting the game ball from Rodgers, the quarterback he won a Super Bowl with in Green Bay, was the kind of scene Hollywood would reject for being too neat. McCarthy called it a "special moment" and then tried to steer the spotlight elsewhere.

"It's time to move on and get team victories from here on," McCarthy said. "I'm not one for attention."

The offense McCarthy was brought in to sharpen still sputtered, finishing with 264 yards. But this defense can steal games, and it did so without cornerback Joey Porter Jr., whose absence McCarthy attributed to his health. With Watt playing like this, Pittsburgh doesn't need to be pretty. Next up is a trip to New England.

Atlanta's picture is murkier. Stefanski has a superstar in Robinson and not much else that worked. The Falcons have still never won in Pittsburgh, lost defensive tackle De'Shawn Hand to a first-half knee injury and need Folk to find his groove before Carolina visits next Sunday.

"Nick's not going to be perfect this year, I don't expect him to be perfect," Stefanski said.

Get Up and Keep Running

"Being able to end the game on our terms, with Aaron on the ball, taking a knee, you know you can’t take that for granted," Freiermuth said.

Fair. But the image that sticks is Watt on the turf, one second from a blooper, hearing somebody tell him to get up. He listened. Maybe that's the 2026 Steelers' mission statement: fall down, get up, keep running, and let the scoreboard handle the style points.

Stats from the official box score via ESPN. Postgame quotes as reported by the Associated Press. Additional game details from Steelers.com.