Game recap

Falcons @ Steelers

2026 Wk 1 · PIT 20, ATL 13

Pittsburgh's offense scored 13 points all day, so the defense had to supply the margin, and Watt supplied it in one play. The interception came on a short throw to Atlanta's best player, the kind of pass an offense uses to stay safe, which is why the swing was so large: Atlanta went from a one-score game with the ball to a two-score deficit in four seconds. Nine previous interceptions in Watt's career had ended without a touchdown, several at the spot of the catch. This one decided a Week 1 game.

FanIQ Research · September 14, 2026 · 7 facts, every one from the play-by-play

T.J. Watt's tenth interception was his first pick-six. It moved Pittsburgh from 63 to 86 percent to win.

Rare

Atlanta had just cut the lead to 13-10 and opened the fourth quarter at its own 44. On second and 10, Cooper Rush threw a short pass to the right for Bijan Robinson. Watt caught it at the Atlanta 35 and ran it in. Pittsburgh's win probability went from 62.8 percent before the snap to 86.4 percent after the extra point, the largest swing of the game. Watt also had 2 sacks and 3 tackles for loss. Since 1999, a player has paired two or more sacks with a pick-six in the same game 16 times; the last Steeler to do it was LaMarr Woodley in 2010.

Every T.J. Watt interception, 2017 to 2026

Season	Week	Opponent	Passer	Return	Touchdown
2017	1	CLE	D.Kizer	17 yds	No
2019	3	SF	J.Garoppolo	7 yds	No
2019	14	ARI	K.Murray	Touchback	No
2020	1	NYG	D.Jones	0 yds	No
2022	1	CIN	J.Burrow	0 yds	No
2022	11	CIN	J.Burrow	0 yds	No
2023	7	LA	M.Stafford	24 yds	No
2025	4	MIN	C.Wentz	13 yds	No
2025	18	BAL	L.Jackson	0 yds	No
2026	1	ATL	C.Rush	35 yds	Yes

Watt in this game

Sacks	Tackles for loss	QB hits	Passes defensed	Tackles	INT
2	3	2	1	4	1 (TD)

Two or more sacks plus a pick-six in one game, 1999 to 2026

Season	Week	Game	Player	Sacks
1999	6	MIA @ NE	Andy Katzenmoyer	2
2002	5	GB @ CHI	Kabeer Gbaja-Biamila	2
2006	1	MIA @ PIT	Joey Porter	2
2007	9	DEN @ DET	Shaun Rogers	2
2007	16	NYG @ BUF	Kawika Mitchell	2
2008	2	NYG @ STL	Justin Tuck	2
2009	4	STL @ SF	Patrick Willis	2
2010	4	ARI @ SD	Shaun Phillips	4
2010	14	CIN @ PIT	LaMarr Woodley	2
2013	15	NYJ @ CAR	Captain Munnerlyn	2
2015	17	TEN @ IND	Jerrell Freeman	2
2017	6	DET @ NO	Cameron Jordan	2
2023	4	SEA @ NYG	Devon Witherspoon	2
2024	13	SEA @ NYJ	Leonard Williams	2
2025	8	TB @ NO	Anthony Nelson	2
2026	1	ATL @ PIT	T.J. Watt	2

Why it matters. Pittsburgh's offense scored 13 points all day, so the defense had to supply the margin, and Watt supplied it in one play. The interception came on a short throw to Atlanta's best player, the kind of pass an offense uses to stay safe, which is why the swing was so large: Atlanta went from a one-score game with the ball to a two-score deficit in four seconds. Nine previous interceptions in Watt's career had ended without a touchdown, several at the spot of the catch. This one decided a Week 1 game.

Atlanta scored 13 points without a single snap inside the Pittsburgh 20

Anomaly

The closest Atlanta got was the Pittsburgh 22. Its touchdown was a 23-yard screen to Bijan Robinson, and all four of Nick Folk's field goal attempts came from 43 yards or longer: 54 missed, 45 missed, 51 good, 43 good. Two misses in one game is the 11th time in Folk's 238 games with a field goal attempt, and the first since 2022. Since 1999, a team has scored 13 or more points without a red-zone snap in 93 of 14,566 team-games. Atlanta has now done it three times since 2020; no other team has done it more than twice.

Atlanta scrimmage plays by field position, this game

Zone	Plays	TD
Inside PIT 20	0	0
PIT 21 to 30	10	1
PIT 31 to 50	17	0
Own half	30	0

Atlanta field goal attempts

Qtr	Distance	Result	Score before
2	54	Missed	ATL 7, PIT 13
3	45	Missed	ATL 7, PIT 13
3	51	Good	ATL 7, PIT 13
4	43	Good	ATL 10, PIT 20

Zero red-zone snaps and 13+ points, team-games since 2020

Team	Times
ATL	3
PHI	2
11 other teams	1 each

Atlanta's three such games since 2020

Season	Week	Opponent	ATL pts	Opp pts
2024	4	NO	26	24
2024	15	LV	15	9
2026	1	PIT	13	20

Why it matters. Field goals from 43 to 54 yards convert far less often than kicks from inside the 30, so an offense that stalls between the 22 and the 33 leaves points on the field even on drives that look productive. Atlanta lost by 7 with two misses worth 6. The pattern is not new for this offense: it has produced three of these games since 2020, twice winning anyway. Against a defense that also scored a touchdown, the margin was gone.

Both offenses finished below minus 0.30 EPA per play. That has happened in 44 of 7,244 games since 1999.

Comparison

Atlanta averaged minus 0.321 EPA per play on 57 pass and run plays; Pittsburgh averaged minus 0.303 on 61. In the 2025 regular season the same two offenses were mid-pack: Pittsburgh ranked 15th at plus 0.026 and Atlanta 24th at minus 0.021. A winner with an offense at minus 0.30 or worse is rare on its own: 84 of 7,268 winning team-games since 1999, and only the second since the start of 2025.

Offense in this game (pass and run plays)

Team	Plays	EPA/play	Success	Yards	First downs	Sacks taken	Turnovers
ATL	57	-0.321	38.6%	238	14	4	2
PIT	61	-0.303	32.8%	267	13	2	1

2025 regular season offensive EPA per play, league ranks

Rank	Team	EPA/play
1	NE	0.159
2	LA	0.145
3	BUF	0.136
15	PIT	0.026
24	ATL	-0.021
32	LV	-0.215

Games with both offenses at or below minus 0.30 EPA per play, 2023 to 2026

Season	Week	Game	Better offense	Score
2026	1	ATL @ PIT	-0.303	PIT 20, ATL 13
2025	18	KC @ LV	-0.468	LV 14, KC 12
2024	15	IND @ DEN	-0.314	DEN 31, IND 13
2023	15	CHI @ CLE	-0.311	CLE 20, CHI 17
2023	8	NYJ @ NYG	-0.373	NYG 10, NYJ 13

How rare is it, 1999 to 2026

Measure	Count	Of
Games with both offenses at or below -0.30	44	7,244
Winning team-games with offense at or below -0.30	84	7,268

Why it matters. EPA per play measures how much each snap moved the expected score, and minus 0.30 over a full game is the range where an offense is actively losing ground on most drives. Both teams lived there for 60 minutes, which is why the game turned on a defensive touchdown and two missed kicks rather than on either quarterback. Aaron Rodgers threw 40 passes for 221 yards and took 2 sacks; Cooper Rush threw 22 for 143, took 4 sacks, and threw 2 interceptions. Pittsburgh's number is the more unusual one, because winners almost never post it.

Five conversions on 24 third downs. Atlanta went 2 of 12 and Pittsburgh 3 of 12.

Split

Atlanta came in from a 2025 season at 34.1 percent on third down, 30th in the league, and converted 16.7 percent. Pittsburgh came in at 41.3 percent, 14th, and converted 25.0 percent. Both teams held three or fewer conversions on 12 or more tries, which has happened in 102 of 7,283 games since 1999 and 19 times since 2020. The one third down that mattered most went Pittsburgh's way: third and 3 at its own 29 with 2:35 left, Rodgers to Darnell Washington for 15 yards, and Atlanta never touched the ball again.

Third down, this game versus 2025 regular season

Team	This game	Rate	2025 season	2025 rate	2025 rank
ATL	2 of 12	16.7%	70 of 205	34.1%	30th
PIT	3 of 12	25.0%	86 of 208	41.3%	14th

Offense by quarter (pass and run plays)

Team	Qtr	Plays	EPA/play	Yards	First downs
ATL	1	13	-0.042	51	3
ATL	2	14	-0.581	43	2
ATL	3	19	0.027	91	6
ATL	4	11	-0.921	53	3
PIT	1	15	-0.500	62	3
PIT	2	23	-0.148	83	5
PIT	3	11	-0.650	51	1
PIT	4	12	-0.034	71	4

Games where both teams converted 3 or fewer of 12+ third downs, 2024 to 2026

Season	Week	Game	Combined 3rd down	Score
2026	1	ATL @ PIT	5 of 24	PIT 20, ATL 13
2025	13	JAX @ TEN	5 of 24	JAX 25, TEN 3
2025	1	MIN @ CHI	6 of 24	MIN 27, CHI 24
2024	8	NO @ LAC	5 of 29	LAC 26, NO 8
2024	7	PHI @ NYG	4 of 27	PHI 28, NYG 3
2024	4	TEN @ MIA	4 of 24	TEN 31, MIA 12
2024	1	TEN @ CHI	5 of 27	CHI 24, TEN 17

Why it matters. Third down is where drives either extend or end, and a combined 5 of 24 means both teams punted most of the afternoon. Atlanta's problem was consistent with its 2025 profile, just worse; Pittsburgh's was a drop of 16 points from its own baseline. The quarter table shows the shape: Atlanta's only positive quarter was the third, when it drove for a field goal and cut the lead to 3, and its fourth quarter at minus 0.921 per play includes the interception that ended the game. Pittsburgh's fourth quarter was its best, and it needed only one conversion to finish.

Bijan Robinson produced 65.8 percent of Atlanta's scrimmage yards, the third-highest share in a game since 2025

Comparison

Robinson ran 21 times for 83 yards and caught 8 of 10 targets for 90 yards and the touchdown: 173 of Atlanta's 263 scrimmage yards. Since the start of 2025, only Breece Hall's 69.1 percent in Week 10 of 2025 and Robinson's own 66.4 percent in Week 17 of 2025 were larger shares in a game where the team gained at least 150 yards. Two of the top three belong to him. His 2025 season share of 39.3 percent already led every player in the league.

Largest single-game share of team scrimmage yards, 2025 regular season and 2026 (team 150+ yards)

Season	Week	Player	Team	Player yds	Team yds	Share
2025	10	Breece Hall	NYJ	125	181	69.1%
2025	17	Bijan Robinson	ATL	229	345	66.4%
2026	1	Bijan Robinson	ATL	173	263	65.8%
2025	7	Christian McCaffrey	SF	201	326	61.7%
2025	10	De'Von Achane	MIA	225	370	60.8%
2025	6	Rico Dowdle	CAR	239	415	57.6%

Atlanta receiving in this game

Player	Targets	Rec	Yards	TD
Bijan Robinson	10	8	90	1
Drake London	4	2	29	0
Jahan Dotson	3	1	19	0
Olamide Zaccheaus	1	1	5	0
Kyle Pitts	1	0	0	0

2025 regular season share of team scrimmage yards, league top 5

Player	Team	Player yds	Team yds	Share
Bijan Robinson	ATL	2,298	5,841	39.3%
Christian McCaffrey	SF	2,126	6,135	34.7%
De'Von Achane	MIA	1,838	5,366	34.3%
Jonathan Taylor	IND	1,963	6,092	32.2%
Jaxon Smith-Njigba	SEA	1,829	6,159	29.7%

Why it matters. An offense that routes two thirds of its yards through one player is easy to plan against, and Pittsburgh's decisive play shows the cost: the interception Watt returned was a pass intended for Robinson. Robinson's share is not a one-game quirk. He led the league in 2025 by almost five points over McCaffrey, and his two largest single-game shares came in consecutive regular season games, Week 17 of 2025 and Week 1 of 2026. The rest of Atlanta's targets combined for 4 catches and 53 yards.

Pittsburgh's first game without Tomlin as head coach since 2006, and McCarthy's first debut win in three tries

Milestone

Bill Cowher coached Pittsburgh's last game before Tomlin in 2006. Tomlin held the job for 19 seasons, 2007 through 2025. Mike McCarthy's first game at each of his previous stops was a loss: 0-26 to Chicago with Green Bay in 2006 and 17-20 at the Rams with Dallas in 2020. He won this one with a quarterback he already knew. Aaron Rodgers played 162 regular season games for McCarthy in Green Bay across 13 seasons, 2006 to 2018, and went 24 of 40 for 221 yards, a touchdown, and no interceptions in their first game together since.

Pittsburgh head coaches, 1999 to 2026

Coach	Seasons	First game	Result
Bill Cowher	1999 to 2006	before 1999
Mike Tomlin	2007 to 2025	2007 Wk 1 at CLE	PIT 34, CLE 7
Mike McCarthy	2026	2026 Wk 1 vs ATL	PIT 20, ATL 13

Mike McCarthy's first game at each head coaching stop

Season	Team	Opponent	Score	Result
2006	GB	CHI (home)	CHI 26, GB 0	Loss
2020	DAL	at LA	LA 20, DAL 17	Loss
2026	PIT	ATL (home)	PIT 20, ATL 13	Win

Rodgers and McCarthy, seasons on the same team

Seasons	Team	Rodgers reg. season games	Attempts
2006 to 2018	GB	162	5,475
2026	PIT	1	40

Why it matters. Head coaching changes in Pittsburgh are generational events: three coaches across 28 seasons in this table, and only two first games. McCarthy inherits a defense that scored the winning touchdown and a quarterback who ran his offense for 13 years, which is a different starting point from his 2006 and 2020 debuts. The 40 attempts and 221 yards say the passing game was volume without explosiveness, and the offense as a whole was below zero EPA per play, so the win came from the side of the ball McCarthy does not call.

Six straight Pittsburgh wins over Atlanta. The Falcons' only win in the series since 1999 came in 2006.

Milestone

Nine meetings since 1999: Pittsburgh has won 7, Atlanta 1, and the 2002 game ended 34-34. Atlanta's lone win was a 41-38 shootout at home in 2006. Every meeting since then has gone to Pittsburgh, the last three have all been decided by 8 points or fewer, and Atlanta has scored 17 or fewer in each of the last four. This is the third time the two teams have opened a season against each other, after 2010 and 2024, and Pittsburgh won all three.

Falcons versus Steelers, every meeting since 1999

Season	Week	Site	Score	Winner
1999	7	PIT	PIT 13, ATL 9	PIT
2002	10	PIT	PIT 34, ATL 34	Tie
2006	7	ATL	ATL 41, PIT 38	ATL
2010	1	PIT	PIT 15, ATL 9	PIT
2014	15	ATL	PIT 27, ATL 20	PIT
2018	5	PIT	PIT 41, ATL 17	PIT
2022	13	ATL	PIT 19, ATL 16	PIT
2024	1	ATL	PIT 18, ATL 10	PIT
2026	1	PIT	PIT 20, ATL 13	PIT

Why it matters. Cross-conference opponents meet about once every four years, so a six-game streak spans 16 seasons and four or five different starting quarterbacks on each side. That makes it less a matchup story than a pattern: since 2010 Atlanta has not scored more than 20 points against Pittsburgh in any meeting. The 2010 and 2024 openers were both low-scoring one-score Pittsburgh wins, and this one fit the same shape.

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