Labriola on the win over the Falcons

We've seen this before. Because T.J. Watt has done it before.

As part of the NFL's 1 p.m. slate of games, the Steelers had defeated Atlanta in a very rare for them regular season opener at home. Shortly afterward Trey Wingo shared a video clip from that game captioned by this nugget: there are only 2 players in NFL history to have over 100 sacks and at least 10 interceptions during their careers. Julius Peppers, Hall of Fame Class of 2025, and T.J. Watt.

This was the situation portrayed in the accompanying video:

At the end of the third quarter, the Steelers held a precarious 13-10 lead, and in fact the last play of the quarter had been a 20-yard run by Bijan Robinson, as dangerous a dual-threat RB as there is in the league. First-and-10 for the Falcons at their 44-yard line. Again Robinson gets the carry, but Watt slices down the line of scrimmage from the edge and cuts him down for no gain. On second-and-10 the Falcons try to get the ball to Robinson in open grass with a short pass, and on his way to QB Cooper Rush for what would've been his third sack of the game, Watt's Spidey-sense tells him the ball is coming out now.

NFL pass-rushers are taught to get their hands into throwing lanes on the way to the quarterback, and it's a lot easier to tell someone else to do that than it is to actually do that yourself. Not so, for Watt. Once again, he lined himself up perfectly between the passer and the intended target, and then used his freakish athletic skills to time his jump to get his hands on a ball that was delivered with pace. Then, the hardest part. Catch The Ball.

But wait. There's more.

Watt made the catch and then maintained possession of the ball through the ensuing contact with the ground, because, well, Jesse James. He got up, and thanks to a helpful re-orientation by a teammate he ran 35 yards for the touchdown that provided the breathing space of a 20-10 lead.

Allow Aaron Rodgers to pick up the narrative. "Unbelievable. We were just talking about literally seconds before how great of a game (T.J.) was having and what an impact he's had, and we were laughing about something that happened in practice this week, involving him, and then that happens … and then he falls down and gets up and I'm thinking they're just running off (the field) because he's gotten tagged down. I didn't realize he even scored. What an incredible, incredible play."

Watt has intercepted passes before, and he scored a defensive touchdown before. But never had he intercepted a pass and returned it for a touchdown. And never ever in a situation like this.

When Mike McCarthy was hired by the Steelers eight months ago, in January, he became the fourth man to hold the job since 1969. And he did not fit their mold. Chuck Noll, Bill Cowher, and Mike Tomlin all were thirtysomething first-time head coaches with backgrounds on defense. Mike McCarthy is 62, he had 174 regular season wins and a Lombardi Trophy on his resume as a head coach, and he accomplished all of that because of his background with offense.

On Sunday afternoon at Acrisure Stadium, Mike McCarthy was coaching his hometown team in his hometown. Remember, when McCarthy was introduced as the Steelers coach he got emotional as he spoke to the media at a news conference with the front row packed with family members, and so you can imagine what he was feeling when it was an actual game that counted in the standings.

"There's so much to do," said McCarthy on the Thursday before the game. "How you prioritize is very important of what you're trying to get done. You never feel like you're getting everything done, but I think it's been a very, very productive first year so far and the honeymoon is over. The homecoming has been awesome, but it's time to go play games. Time to go win. And that's the reality of why we're here."

The 2026 Steelers are a veteran team, tied with the Falcons for having the oldest roster in terms of average age, and there has been a lot of adjusting going on with a new coaching staff. The previous couple of months had been spent answering questions about the ways a Mike McCarthy training camp was different than how Mike Tomlin ran it during his 19-seasons, and so when the NFL calendar flipped over to the "time to go win" both players and coaches needed to see some validation that the effort expended so far was moving the train in the right direction.

There had been a lot of change during the previous six months for a franchise that is the embodiment of patience and stability, and with that came more questions. For Watt in particular, he was a 31-year-old in his 10th year in the NFL who was coming off one of the 3 least productive seasons of his career. The beginning of the end, or was there still some magic there?

Explosive, relentless, high-motor against the Falcons, Watt played with his hair on fire whenever he was on the field. And those 55 seconds at the start of the fourth quarter against the Falcons were the day's grand finale.

The outcome sent the fans home happy, gave the players a sense of accomplishment, and left the coaching staff with plenty of fresh material to use as teaching tools during the rest of a September that first includes a trip to New England next Sunday and then back home for a game against the Bengals on Sept. 27.

For the head coach and the veteran quarterback, though, it was something special. As one of the gameday captains, Aaron Rodgers was able to present the game ball to Mike McCarthy, and he was as happy to do it as McCarthy was to receive it.

"Yeah, it meant a lot," said Rodgers. "Mike has had a lot of wins, but it's always special when it's the first one at a place and extra special when it's the team you grew up cheering for and you grew up just on the other side of the river from the facility. Your parents are still living in town. Super special to be able to do that. I was really honestly looking forward to that today as much as anything."

"It's a great feeling, without a doubt," said McCarthy while holding the football Rodgers gave him. "I'm glad it's by us. It was emotional all day today."

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