First Call: Aaron Rodgers on-camera reaction to costly Steelers mishap; another huge day for George Pickens

Monday’s “First Call” features Aaron Rodgers noticing a painful Steelers penalty before it happened in Chicago.

George Pickens was dominant again in Dallas. A former Steeler executed one of the most unpredictable trick plays of the year.

And both Pitt and the Steelers are listed as underdogs at Acrisure Stadium for this weekend’s games.

Saw it coming

It appears that the CBS network feed caught Aaron Rodgers’ reaction to Mason Rudolph’s ill-fated, fourth-quarter scramble before it was even penalized.

As picked up by SteelersDepot, Rodgers was apparently spotted on camera from the sideline pointing out that the Steelers were about to get flagged for an illegal formation before the ball was snapped on a 3rd down shortly before the two-minute warning.

Rudolph ended up running for 22 yards, but it got called back.

Aaron Rodgers knew it was an illegal formation pre-snap #Steelers #NFL pic.twitter.com/XK1tqpILGq

— Steelers Depot 7⃣ (@Steelersdepot) November 23, 2025

If that’s what Rodgers was reacting to, it doesn’t look like he was near Mike Tomlin on the sideline at the time in order to tell him to call a timeout.

You can also see that it appears Calvin Austin is trying to tell Rudolph that Kenneth Gainwell hadn’t covered Troy Fautanu at right tackle, thus creating the penalty.

The Steelers failed to convert the ensuing 3rd-and-9 and had to punt. They then got the ball back with no timeouts and couldn’t get into field goal range before eventually losing 31-28.

Ye of little faith

Losing four of their last six isn’t exactly instilling a lot of confidence in the gambling public on behalf of the Pittsburgh Steelers.

At BetRivers.com, they have opened up as a 4 1/2-point underdog at home for Sunday’s game (4:25 p.m.) at Acrisure Stadium against the Buffalo Bills.

The Steelers come in 6-5 after Sunday’s loss in Chicago. The Bills are licking their wounds after a Thursday night defeat in Houston. They are 7-4.

As of now, the Steelers are tied atop the AFC North with Baltimore. But the Ravens own the divisional tiebreaker for the time being, thus casting the Steelers into eighth place in the conference, right behind the Bills for the AFC’s final playoff spot.

The last four games of this series have been played in Buffalo, with the Bills winning three times. They haven’t played a regular-season game here since a 17-10 victory over the Steelers when Duck Hodges threw four interceptions on Dec. 15, 2019.

The @BuffaloBills defense seals the win! #BUFvsPIT #GoBills pic.twitter.com/hptprq1tgy

— NFL (@NFL) December 16, 2019

However, BetRivers claims the Bills have failed to cover the spread against AFC foes as a favorite four games in a row.

In the same boat

The Pitt Panthers have also opened as home underdogs in advance of their game at Acrisure Stadium this weekend.

On Saturday, No. 24 Pitt (8-3/ 6-1 ACC) hosts No. 13 Miami (9-2/5-2) at noon. ACC Championship Game implications are on the line. The Hurricanes are 6 ½-point road favorites according to ESPN Bet. The last time these two teams met on the North Shore, Miami won 38-34 in 2021. The Canes are 16-6 all-time in Pittsburgh.

Via CBSSports.com, in order for the Panthers to reach the ACC title game, they need to beat Miami plus have Virginia or SMU lose this weekend. For Miami to go to the championship, CBS says they need to win in Pittsburgh and have both Virginia and SMU lose.

Unfortunately for the Panthers and Hurricanes, SMU is a 12 ½-point favorite at Cal, and Virginia is an 11 1/2 -point favorite at home against Virginia Tech.

Related:

• Airing of Grievances: Passing differential, disastrous 4th-quarter sequence sink Steelers in Chicago
• Madden Monday: Steelers coaches had a 'cowardly, chicken scratch, offensive game plan' vs. Bears
• Steelers' ineptitude in Chicago continues with loss to Bears

Still rolling

Former Steeler George Pickens had another huge game for the Dallas Cowboys on Sunday.

The former Steeler put up 146 yards and a touchdown on nine catches against the Philadelphia Eagles as part of a 21-point comeback.

GEORGE PICKENS. WOW.

PHIvsDAL on FOX/FOX Onehttps://t.co/HkKw7uXVnt pic.twitter.com/ZcmA7vSMIH

— NFL (@NFL) November 24, 2025

That performance was on the heels of a nine-catch 144-yard outing against the Las Vegas Raiders last week.

The Cowboys ended up winning 24-21. With 1,054 receiving yards on the season, only Jaxon Smith-Njigba (1,313) of Seattle has more in the NFL this season.

Gunner guns it

Another former Steeler provided the most fun highlight of the NFL weekend.

New York Giants wide receiver Gunner Olszewski actually threw a touchdown pass on a trick play to quarterback Jameis Winston against the Detroit Lions.

JAMEIS WINSTON RECEIVING TD FROM GUNNER OLSZEWSKI.

NYGvsDET on FOX/FOX Onehttps://t.co/HkKw7uXVnt pic.twitter.com/A5D17S03R3

— NFL (@NFL) November 23, 2025

In his career, Olszewski has two punt returns and two catches for touchdowns, but he never threw one. That was also Winston’s first receiving TD of his career.

The Giants ended up losing in Detroit, however, 34-27.