With Week 1 of the NFL season now upon us, the Pittsburgh Steelers are preparing to face off against the Atlanta Falcons to open the new year.
Pittsburgh will have their hands full, as the Falcons made key improvements to their roster over the offseason. Two of those have come rather recently, and they involved EDGE Matthew Judon and S Justin Simmons.
Falcons’ head coach Raheem Morris was asked on Thursday about the impact both could have on the opener.
“We’re already got him beefed up into his rep counts,” Morris said about Judon via the team website. “We got him beefed up into full individual (drills).”
Both were acquired a couple of weeks ago, so it’s naturally taken them a bit of time to get used to their new home. Judon seems to be getting up to speed quickly, though, with Morris mentioning that he’s already comfortable with his reps.
Simmons doesn’t seem to be at the same level as Judon when it comes to their level of preparation for Week 1, but Morris seemed encouraged regardless:
“How much? That will be determined over the next couple weeks and the preparation that we move toward with the Steelers preparation,” Morris explained. “But I certainly think he’s going to be one of the major contributors for us throughout.”
It might be good that the Steelers are getting the Falcons as their first matchup rather than later in the season. These two are some of the better defenders in the league, and while they’re still getting up to speed now, that won’t be the case anymore a couple of weeks into the season. Still, from Morris’ quotes, it does seem like they’ll be on the field a lot next Sunday.
Judon has became one of the more consistent pass-rushers in the league, but his 2023 season was cut short due to a torn bicep suffered in Week 4. He should be fully healthy for the beginning of the 2024 season in his first action in nearly a full calendar year.
Despite remaining a free agent for months, Simmons has is still one of the better safeties in football. His 2023 season was the fourth in the past five years in which he’s been named a Second-Team All-Pro.
These two will look to wreak havoc against the Steelers in Week 1. Pittsburgh hasn’t gotten a ton of respect from the media, with NFL Network’s panelists heavily favoring Atlanta in the Week 1 affair. If the Steelers want to prove those analysts wrong, they’ll need to keep both Simmons and Judon quiet.
