Green Bay Packers at Pittsburgh Steelers

Mike McCarthy gets his Steelers head-coaching debut in the city he called home for 13 years running the Packers' offense, and the guy under center will be doing him a favor just by trotting out there. Aaron Rodgers said this week he doesn't see "any advantage" to playing in the preseason, and McCarthy admitted the team was still working out exactly how much he'll see tonight. On the other side, Jordan Love spent the summer building rhythm with a fully healthy receiver room — Christian Watson, Jayden Reed and Matthew Golden all logging camp reps together for the first time — which matters more for Green Bay's ceiling than anything that happens against Pittsburgh's backups.

Whoever's throwing it for Pittsburgh figures to hand off fast: Mason Rudolph is set to open, Will Howard takes the second quarter, and Drew Allar gets the whole second half, according to the team's own camp reporting — a layered plan built for evaluating depth, not for winning a game that won't count. Green Bay is dealing with its own subtraction up front, with Josh Jacobs (groin) ruled out for "at least this week" and MarShawn Lloyd next in line, while Pittsburgh's receiver room took a hit of its own when both Michael Pittman Jr. and DK Metcalf missed practice this week, pushing Germie Bernard into an expanded look. None of that has stopped the number from moving — Pittsburgh's moneyline price has drifted since it opened, which tells you public money isn't exactly pouring in on the home team.

Frame it against where both teams left off. Pittsburgh went 10-7 and won the AFC North for the first time since 2020 in Rodgers' debut season before a lopsided finish to their year, while Green Bay skidded home, dropping its final five outings including a Wild Card exit at Chicago. Neither result means much for a preseason opener with both teams sitting at 0-0, but it's the backdrop for two franchises that spent the offseason retooling — Green Bay hired Jonathan Gannon to fix a defense that came apart late, and Pittsburgh is still sorting out an offensive line where center Zach Frazier is the only starter still in his old spot.

That O-line shuffle is worth watching early, with Fautanu, McCormick, Anderson and Cook all settling into new spots up front — untested combinations getting tested fast against a Packers front that'll be looking to make a name for itself. It's also the kind of thing a preseason opener exists for: sort out who's for real before the games start counting.

Kickoff is set for 7:00 PM ET at Acrisure Stadium, with partly sunny skies and temps in the low 80s — good conditions for a game that'll mostly be decided by who the backups are and how long the starters stick around. Watch the first two Steelers series to see how much Rodgers actually plays, because that answer tells you more about tonight than any depth chart.

Sources