{"id":898325,"date":"2026-05-22T16:51:29","date_gmt":"2026-05-22T16:51:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/898325\/"},"modified":"2026-05-22T16:51:29","modified_gmt":"2026-05-22T16:51:29","slug":"where-does-falcons-steelers-rank-among-nfls-best-week-1-games","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/898325\/","title":{"rendered":"Where does Falcons-Steelers rank among NFL’s best Week 1 games?"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Atlanta Falcons<\/a> will begin their 2026 season on the road against the Pittsburgh Steelers<\/a>, thus beginning a new era under head coach Kevin Stefanski and general manager Ian Cunningham.<\/p>\n

While it’s not a divisional matchup or a clash with an NFC contender, this should be an instructive matchup and tell us a lot about where the Falcons are and potentially where they’re going.<\/p>\n

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Carter Bahns at CBS Sports has ranked every Week 1 game<\/a> on the schedule, and Atlanta-Pittsburgh came in at No. 12 on the list.<\/p>\n

“The signal-caller situation in Atlanta makes this a must-follow game, regardless. It is a true battle between Michael Penix Jr. and Tua Tagovailoa. A strong season opener for either would go a long way toward job security from that perspective.”<\/p>\n

Aaron Rodgers<\/a> has since re-signed with the Steelers and yesterday announced that this will be his last season<\/a>, making this the beginning of his farewell tour around the NFL.<\/p>\n

At this point in his career Rodgers is far from the elite, all-time great talent he was at his peak – but he was good enough in 2025 to land Pittsburgh in the playoffs despite not having a ton to work with at the skill positions. DK Metcalf<\/a> is now the Steelers’ top receiver but they got rid of George Pickens<\/a>, making Michael Pittman<\/a> their new WR2. The monstrous Darnell Washington<\/a> is their top tight end.<\/p>\n

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The Steelers have long been defined by their ferocious defensive front-seven and that will be no different this year. The group is still headlined by long-time veteran Cameron Heyward<\/a> and former Defensive Player of the Year T.J<\/a>. Watt. Alex Highsmith<\/a> actually led the team in sacks last year, though – adding another formidable threat up front.<\/p>\n

The Falcons will be tested most in the trenches, where they have replaced right tackle Kaleb McGary<\/a> with Jawaan Taylor<\/a> but otherwise have the same starting five offensive linemen as last year. Keeping either Tua Tagovailoa<\/a> or Michael Penix<\/a> clean in the pocket may be the most-critical element for success in this matchup.<\/p>\n

That said, this offense runs through superstar running back Bijan Robinson<\/a> – and how much the Steelers can slow him down will also play a huge role in deciding the outcome.<\/p>\n

This article originally appeared on Falcons Wire: CBS Sports ranks Falcons-Steelers clash outside top 10 games in Week 1<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Atlanta Falcons will begin their 2026 season on the road against the Pittsburgh Steelers, thus beginning a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":898326,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2074],"tags":[1586,6310,223,254,2554,4127,4034,457,2870,224,7,467,11587,11412,8591,18665,4983,6,57,20257,2661,3452],"class_list":["post-898325","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-atlanta-falcons","tag-aaron-rodgers","tag-alex-highsmith","tag-atlanta","tag-atlanta-falcons","tag-atlantafalcons","tag-bijan-robinson","tag-cameron-heyward","tag-darnell-washington","tag-dk-metcalf","tag-falcons","tag-football","tag-george-pickens","tag-jawaan-taylor","tag-kaleb-mcgary","tag-kevin-stefanski","tag-michael-penix","tag-michael-pittman","tag-nfl","tag-pittsburgh-steelers","tag-t-j","tag-the-falcons","tag-tua-tagovailoa"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116619266224702254","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/898325","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=898325"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/898325\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/898326"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=898325"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=898325"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=898325"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}