Boswell's late 60-yard field goal rescues Steelers in road victory over Jets

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — The new-look offense featured four touchdown passes from Aaron Rodgers and answered — for one week — any questions about secondary receiving being an issue.

The defense reverted to 2024 postseason form but made two crucial stops in the final moments.

The special teams chipped in with a turnover that helped turn the tide in the fourth quarter, and Chris Boswell continued to do his thing from long range.

Boswell’s career-long 60-yard field goal with 1 minute, 3 seconds left lifted the Pittsburgh Steelers to a 34-32 victory against the New York Jets in the season opener Sunday at MetLife Stadium.

Boswell’s field goal, his second from 55-plus yards, represented the seventh lead change in the game.

“That was fun and challenging at the same time,” coach Mike Tomlin said.

Boswell nails a career long 60-yarder to give Pittsburgh the lead!

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— NFL (@NFL) September 7, 2025

The Steelers scored their most points in a season opener since 2016 thanks largely to Rodgers, who had the second-highest passer rating in an opener over his decorated 21-year career.

Making his return to New York after being released by the Jets in March, Rodgers had his 35th career four-touchdown performance. He completed 22 of 30 attempts for 244 yards and touchdown passes to Ben Skowronek, Jonnu Smith, Calvin Austin III and Jaylen Warren. He also led the Steelers to a touchdown on their opening drive, something they did not accomplish once last season.

Rodgers finished with a 136.7 passer rating that was his highest in any game since the middle of the 2022 season, his last with the Green Bay Packers. The only better passer rating he had in an opener occurred in 2015.

“I love beating everybody. It doesn’t matter who it is,” Rodgers said of his return to New York. “I only played 18 games here. … I was here for two years, but it doesn’t come close to how it will feel when we play Green Bay. That was 18 years of my career.”

The Steelers trailed 26-17 entering the fourth quarter and 32-31 when they got the ball back at their 19 with 3:31 to play. Rodgers led the offense past midfield, and Boswell’s 60-yarder cleared the crossbar with plenty of room to spare.

“Our kicker is a serial killer,” Tomlin said.

Until Boswell provided the final dagger, it looked like the storyline would be the Steelers’ inability to stop former teammate Justin Fields and a running game centered around Breece Hall.

Fields scored two rushing touchdowns, including a fourth-and-1 run midway through the fourth quarter that gave the Jets their final lead. He also had 48 yards rushing as the Jets put up 182 against a defense that came into the season committed to stopping the run.

Fields also finished with 211 yards passing and a touchdown while completing 16 of 22 attempts for a 119.9 passer rating. Hall led all rushers with 107 yards and averaged 5.6 yards per carry.

“There are things we can work on,” defensive captain Cameron Heyward said, “but it’s better to be mad and win a game than mad and lose a game.”

Until midway through the fourth quarter, it was a shaky game for the retooled defense, one that Tomlin said had a chance to be “historic.” In terms of stopping the run, the Steelers picked up where they left off from the postseason.

Erasing no memories of the 299 yards that Baltimore gained against them in January, the Steelers gave up 182 rushing yards and 394 overall.

The Jets got points on their first four drives and held a 19-17 lead at halftime when the Steelers allowed 106 rushing yards and 240 overall.

“That’s not acceptable,” outside linebacker T.J. Watt said. “We knew that was their game plan coming in.”

After forcing a punt on the opening drive of the second half, the Steelers defense resorted to first-half form. Hall had runs of 16 and 17 yards on a 68-yard touchdown drive that ended when Fields went off right tackle for the final 2 yards and a 26-17 lead.

Rodgers, though, threw two touchdown passes in a 50-second span early in the fourth quarter to push the Steelers back in front.

The quarter began with the Steelers on the Jets 5, and Rodgers threw his third touchdown pass on the next play. He flipped the ball to Warren in the right flat, and the running back skipped into the end zone to help cut the deficit to 26-24.

On the ensuing kickoff, Kenneth Gainwell stripped Xavier Gipson of the ball, and Skowronek recovered at the 22. It was the second big play for Skowronek, who caught a 22-yard TD pass in the first quarter.

Two plays later, Rodgers connected with Austin on an 18-yard touchdown pass, and the Steelers had a 31-26 lead.

“We got a freaking quarterback who can sling the ball around and deliver,” Heyward said. “I know everybody asked what our quarterback was going to be this year. Man, he was special today.”

Back came Fields and the Jets with a 67-yard touchdown drive that consumed more than seven minutes.

A 9-yard run by Fields on third down put the Jets on the 1. Fields faked the handoff on fourth down, then scored untouched on a bootleg around the right side. The 2-point conversion try failed, keeping the Jets’ lead at one point.

The Steelers went three-and-out, with Rodgers getting sacked for the fourth time. This time, the defense finally made a stop. After Boswell kicked his 60-yarder, the Steelers stopped the Jets on downs, with cornerback Jalen Ramsey breaking up a pass on fourth-and-7.

“We have to come through at some point, right?” Ramsey said. “I wouldn’t say we were frustrated. I would say not pleased with our performance throughout the game. But a defender’s mentality is you have to take each play as a new play, each series as a new series and continue to make plays.”