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Steelers Daily Links: Preseason Mirage, AFC Contenders All Lose

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Steelers Calvin Austin III Bills
Pittsburgh Steelers wide receiver Calvin Austin III against the Buffalo Bills, Aug. 20, 2023. -- Ed Thompson / Steelers Now

The complexion of the AFC has never been harder to figure out, as several of the Pittsburgh Steelers perceived top opponents struggled this weekend before Monday night’s roller coaster, where Josh Allen and the Buffalo Bills struggled, but the New York Jets also lost quarterback Aaron Rodgers.

Jets head coach Robert Saleh said they fear Aaron Rodgers ruptured his Achilles. His season would be over. Rodgers suffered the injury on the third play from scrimmage in his Jets debut.

🏈 Even without Aaron Rodgers, the Jets pulled off an incredible win over the Buffalo Bills at the Meadowlands, as Xavier Gipson returned a punt for a 65-yard game-winning touchdown in overtime.

🏈 The Score: The Pittsburgh Steelers are the only NFL team that hasn’t recorded a 400-yard game on offense since the start of the 2021 season. Every other team has done it at least three times. Nine teams have done it 10-plus times. Matt Canada became the Steelers’ offensive coordinator in 2021.

🏈 Pat McAfee ripped Matt Canada for the Steelers embarrassing offensive performance against the San Francisco 49ers. McAfee said the 49ers dog walked the Steelers.

“Matt Canada is the Steelers offensive coordinator for the Pittsburgh Steelers, and I know he’s taking on the 49ers. He was supposed to be better this year because last year he had his hands tied because of a rookie QB. Didn’t want to do too much. They look like the same old Steelers,” McAfee said.

🏈 Andrew Fillipponi of 93.7 The Fan also slammed Matt Canada.

“The offensive coaching is just not major league. You see what San Francisco does to get guys wide open. This offense doesn’t do that,” he said. “George Pickens is visibly frustrated on the bench because he’s not getting targeted and he’s their best receiver. He takes a taunting penalty and then he basically tells reporters to eff off after the game.”

Fillipponi feels like he got hoodwinked by the Steelers’ 3-0 preseason performance when the offense was nearly flawless.

“I think it’s more about the Steelers being bad. I really think it was more about how pitiful they were in this game across the board,” Fillipponi said. “Pickett was terrible. I’m never going to get hoodwinked into preseason performance ever again. It doesn’t mean s**t.”

🏈 Pro Football Focus gives Keeanu Benton an 86.1 grade making him the second highest-ranked rookie in the NFL in Week 1.

“The Wisconsin product showed his run-stuffing ability in Week 1 against the Niners, earning a positive grade on over 11.8% of his run-defense snaps. And perhaps more impressively for a rookie, he earned no negative grades on those snaps,” Mason Cameron of PFF wrote. “Not only did Benton earn the second-highest grade among rookies in Week 1, but he was also the Steelers’ second-highest-graded player, behind only T.J. Watt (94.4).”

🎂 Happy Birthday to former Steelers running back John “Frenchy” Fuqua, born on September 12, 1947 in Detroit, Michigan. Fuqua played for the Steelers from 1970-1976 and was a part of the Super Bowl IX and X championship teams. Fuqua would become part of NFL history as the intended target for Terry Bradshaw’s pass that resulted in the Immaculate Reception. Oakland Raiders safety Jack Tatum hit Fuqua just as the ball arrived. It has never been established whether the ball hit Fuqua or Tatum. This was critical, since under the rules of the time, once a pass touched an offensive player he was the only one eligible to catch the pass. If the ball had hit Fuqua without touching Tatum, the rules called for the play to be blown dead once Franco Harris touched the ball. Fuqua reportedly insists to this day that he knows whom the ball hit first, but will never tell.

🎥 Former Steelers free safety Ryan Clark said Brock Purdy looked like a first-round quarterback instead of Kenny Pickett on Sunday.

“I looked at one who is a first rounder and the other who is Mr. Irrelevant, but you midas well flip the two because of how they played,” Clark said on ESPN’s Get Up.

Pittsburgh Hockey Now: Early projection at the Penguins line combos.

Pittsburgh Baseball Now: Jared Triolo seems to be handling changing positions for the Pirates.

Pittsburgh Sports Now: Pat Narduzzi tried to take the heat off quarterback Phil Jurkovec.

West Virginia Sports Now: WVU will be shaking up its secondary this week.

Nittany Sports Now: The latest bowl projections still have Penn State missing the playoff.

Pittsburgh Soccer Now: Albert Dikwa scored twice, moving the Riverhounds over Loudon.

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