Big Ben back for Steelers, Judge era begins for N.Y. Giants

The Pittsburgh Steelers and New York Giants are playing guessing games to some extent heading into their season opener at MetLife Stadium on Monday night.

While the Steelers are returning a superb defense, the Giants don't know what to expect with veteran quarterback Ben Roethlisberger returning after missing most of last season with a major elbow injury.

Can Big Ben still go deep or throw the out pattern with some zip? We'll see in this season overshadowed by the coronavirus pandemic.

FILE - Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger looks to the end zone during an afternoon practice Tuesday, Aug. 18, 2020, in Pittsburgh. The Steelers play at the New York Giants on Monday night, Sept. 14, in East Rutherford, N.J. (Peter DianaPittsburgh Post-Gazette via AP, File)

Mike Tomlin and the Steelers are even more in the dark about New York. They are getting ready to face 38-year-old Giants head coach Joe Judge. He's put in a new offense and a new defense in hopes of ending years of frustrating football for a once-proud organization.

Neither team has played well in recent years. The Steelers (8-8) have missed the postseason the past two years. The Giants (4-12) have made it once (2016) in the last eight seasons, winning 12 games over the last three.

“Early in the season, it's about what you do and the quality with which you do it,” Tomlin said. “It's not necessarily about how you are playing or what schematic they employ or the plans they make. Part of winning early in the season is just being a tough team to beat and just not beat yourself.”

FILE - Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger (7) walks around on a day off of practice for him as the team warms up during an NFL football training camp practice, Monday, Aug. 24, 2020, in Pittsburgh. The Steelers will welcome back Roethlisberger, after missing most of last season with an elbow injury, when they play the New York Giants on Monday night, Sept. 14, in East Rutherford, N.J. (AP PhotoKeith Srakocic, File)

Judge has talked to the Giants about the same things. Don't beat yourself. No penalties. No turnovers. Do your job.

“I think the strength of our team right now is we have a team, and that’s something to be proud of,” Judge said. “There’s a lot of teams out there with a lot of talent that are split in different directions. I like when I see our guys and I see everyone moving in the same direction. There are going to be a lot of things we need to progress on and improve on throughout the year, but right now, I’m proud of the way our guys come to work every day.”

Some things to watch in prime time:

FILE - New York Giants head coach Joe Judge, center, stands with arms linked with his players to make a social injustice statement prior to their scrimmage at the NFL football team's training camp in East Rutherford, N.J., Friday, Aug. 28, 2020. The Giants will kick off the Joe Judge era against the Pittsburgh Steelers on Monday night, Sept. 14. (AP PhotoAdam Hunge, File)

GIANTS O-LINE VS. STEELERS FRONT SEVEN

This is where the game probably will be decided. The Giants, who saw tackle Nate Solder opt out, have three new players on the O-line: first round draft pick Andrew Thomas, center Nick Gates and right tackle Cam Fleming. If the line can handle Pittsburgh's front seven, quarterback Daniel Jones and halfback Saquon Barkley have a chance to do damage.

The Steelers led the NFL with 54 sacks, 18 fumble recoveries and 38 takeaways last season, finishing ranked fifth overall on defense.

FILE - Pittsburgh Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin, center, watches the team as guard David DeCastro, bottom, warms up and wide receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster, left, walks by during an NFL football training camp practice, Monday, Aug. 24, 2020, in Pittsburgh. The Steelers play the New York Giants on Monday night, Sept. 14, in East Rutherford, N.J. (AP PhotoKeith Srakocic, File)

BIG TARGETS

The Steelers spent the offseason trying to upgrade offensive skill positions in hopes of giving Roethlisberger more options in the red zone. That included signing 6-foot-4 tight end Eric Ebron and drafting 6-4 receiver Chase Claypool in the second round.

The rest will be up to Big Ben.

“There’s going to be rust,” the 38-year-old said. “There’s no doubt about it, but hopefully, we can get it knocked off sooner than later. I think that’s what makes it fun. If I wasn’t nervous, and I didn’t have that anxiousness, I think you shouldn’t be out there. There’s not a love for the game if you don’t have that.”

SAQUON AND DANIEL

Barkley needs to put up numbers like his rookie season in 2018, when he rushed for 1,307 yards and scored 15 touchdowns, 11 rushing. The No. 2 pick overall pick was slowed by a sprained ankle last season, gaining 1,003 yards and scoring six touchdown, four on the ground.

Despite throwing a franchise rookie-record 24 touchdowns last season, Jones needs to cut down on his turnovers. He 23 turnovers, including 11 lost fumbles.

THE RIGHT STUFF

The Steelers have shuffled their offensive line following left guard Ramon Foster’s retirement. Matt Feiler moved from right tackle to left guard, with Zach Banner beating out Chuks Okorafor to take over Feiler’s old spot.

Banner, who frequently lined up as an eligible third tackle last season, shed 30-plus pounds in an effort to compete against All-Pro outside linebacker T.J. Watt (14 1/2 sacks) in practice.

GIANTS' DEFENSE

New York has revamped one of the NFL's worst defenses under new coordinator Pat Graham.

Inside linebacker Blake Martinez, cornerback James Bradberry and multi-purpose defensive back Logan Ryan were signed as free agents. Outside linebacker Markus Golden (10 sacks) and defensive lineman Leonard Williams were re-signed, while outside linebacker Lorenzo Carter seems ready for the next step in his third season.

The main question mark is the cornerback spot opposite Bradberry. DeAndre Baker, a 2019 first-round draft pick and a starter last year, was cut Tuesday after an offseason arrest for armed robbery. Sam Beal opted out for health reasons. That leaves Corey Ballentine, Issac Yiadom, Julian Love and Brandon Williams to fit in.

AP Sports Writer Will Graves in Pittsburgh contributed to this report.

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WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court on Tuesday seemed likely to uphold state laws barring transgender girls and women from playing on school athletic teams.

Lower courts ruled for the transgender athletes in Idaho and West Virginia who challenged the state bans, but the conservative-dominated Supreme Court gave no indication after more than three hours of arguments that it would follow suit.

Instead, at least five of the six conservatives on the nine-member court indicated they would rule that the laws don't violate either the Constitution or the landmark Title IX law, which prohibits discrimination in education and has produced dramatic growth in girls and women's sports.

In just the past year, the justices ruled in favor state bans on gender-affirming care for transgender youths and allowed multiple restrictions on transgender people to be enforced.

The legal fight is playing out amid a broad effort by President Donald Trump to target transgender Americans, beginning on the first day of his second term and including the ouster of transgender people from the military and declaring that gender is immutable and determined at birth.

Justice Brett Kavanaugh, who coached his daughters in girls basketball, seemed concerned about a ruling that might undo the effects of the Title IX federal law. Kavanaugh called Title IX an “amazing” and “inspiring” success. Some girls and women might lose a medal in a competition with transgender athletes, which Kavanaugh called a harm “we can’t sweep aside.”

The three liberal justices seemed focused on trying to marshal a court majority in support of a narrow ruling that would allow the individual transgender athletes involved in the cases to be allowed to compete.

The culture war cases come from Idaho and West Virginia, among the first of the more than two dozen Republican-led states that have banned transgender athletes from girls and women’s teams.

The justices are evaluating claims of sex discrimination lodged by transgender people versus the need for fair competition for women and girls, the main argument made by the states.

In the first case, Lindsay Hecox, 25, sued over Idaho's first-in-the-nation ban for the chance to try out for the women's track and cross-country teams at Boise State University in Idaho. She didn’t make either squad because “she was too slow,” her lawyer, Kathleen Hartnett, told the court Tuesday, but she competed in club-level soccer and running.

Becky Pepper-Jackson, a 15-year-old high school sophomore, has been taking puberty-blocking medication, publicly identified as a girl since age 8 and has been issued a West Virginia birth certificate recognizing her as female. She is the only transgender person who has sought to compete in girls sports in West Virginia.

Pepper-Jackson has progressed from a back-of-the-pack cross-country runner in middle school to a statewide third-place finish in the discus in just her first year of high school.

Prominent women in sports have weighed in on both sides. Tennis champion Martina Navratilova, swimmers Summer Sanders and Donna de Varona and beach volleyball player Kerri Walsh-Jennings are supporting the state bans. Soccer stars Megan Rapinoe and Becky Sauerbrunn and basketball players Sue Bird and Breanna Stewart back the transgender athletes.

The high-court arguments had been expected to focus on whether the sports bans violate the Constitution or Title IX.

In 2020, the Supreme Court ruled LGBTQ people are protected by a landmark federal civil rights law that prohibits sex discrimination in the workplace, finding that “sex plays an unmistakable role” in employers’ decisions to punish transgender people for traits and behavior they otherwise tolerate.

But last year, the six conservative justices declined to apply the same sort of analysis when they upheld state bans on gender-affirming care for transgender minors.

Chief Justice John Roberts signaled Tuesday he sees differences between the 2020 case, in which he supported the claims of discrimination, and the current dispute.

The states supporting the prohibitions on transgender athletes argue there is no reason to extend the ruling barring workplace discrimination to Title IX, which dramatically increased opportunities for girls and women in school sports.

Lawyers for Pepper-Jackson argue that the law protects people like their client from discrimination. They are asking for a ruling that would apply to the unique circumstances of her early transition. In Hecox's case, her lawyers want the court to dismiss the case because she has forsworn trying to play on women's teams.

Despite the small numbers of transgender athletes, the issue has taken on outsize importance. The NCAA and the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committees banned transgender women from women’s sports after Trump, a Republican, signed an executive order aimed at barring their participation.

The public generally is supportive of the limits. An Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research poll conducted in October 2025 found that about 6 in 10 U.S. adults “strongly” or “somewhat” favored requiring transgender children and teenagers to only compete on sports teams that match the sex they were assigned at birth, not the gender they identify with, while about 2 in 10 were “strongly” or “somewhat” opposed and about one-quarter did not have an opinion.

About 2.1 million adults, or 0.8%, and 724,000 people age 13 to 17, or 3.3%, identify as transgender in the U.S., according to the Williams Institute at the UCLA School of Law.

A decision is expected by early summer.

This story has been corrected to show the basketball player’s surname is Bird, not Byrd.

Follow the AP's coverage of the U.S. Supreme Court at https://apnews.com/hub/us-supreme-court.

Protesters gather outside the Supreme Court as it hears arguments over state laws barring transgender girls and women from playing on school athletic teams, Tuesday, Jan. 13, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)

Protesters gather outside the Supreme Court as it hears arguments over state laws barring transgender girls and women from playing on school athletic teams, Tuesday, Jan. 13, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)

Protesters wave transgender pride flags outside the Supreme Court as it hears arguments over state laws barring transgender girls and women from playing on school athletic teams, Tuesday, Jan. 13, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)

FILE - Protestors hold signs during a rally at the state capitol in Charleston, W.Va., on March 9, 2023. (AP Photo/Chris Jackson, file)

Becky Pepper-Jackson poses for a photograph outside of the U.S. Supreme Court in Washington, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)