Aaron Rodgers’ new marriage to the Pittsburgh Steelers has plenty of critics, but Bill Cowher doesn’t appear to be one of them.
The former Steelers head coach and now longtime NFL on CBS analyst joined The Dan Patrick Show Tuesday morning to discuss Pittsburgh’s busy offseason, which included recently making their signing of Aaron Rodgers official. During the interview, Patrick asked the former Super Bowl-winning head coach whether he would give Rodgers total autonomy in Pittsburgh, like he did with Ben Roethlisberger, and Cowher didn’t hesitate to say yes.
“Absolutely,” Cowher answered. “I don’t think there’s any question about it. And I think Aaron’s at a point where he knows you don’t want him to be throwing the ball 40 times a game at this point. You want Aaron Rodgers to be healthy going into the playoffs…you can turn the ball over to him at the end of a half, at the end of a game and know he’s been there before and I think he will operate that very, very efficiently.”
The New York Jets would argue, however, they turned the ball over to Rodgers in those spots last season and their 41-year-old quarterback repeatedly turned the ball back over to the opposition. The Jets brought Rodgers in for the same reasons as Pittsburgh did, believing he could fix their quarterback problem and be a steadying presence in close games. Unfortunately, Rodgers was terrible with the Jets in close games.
In Rodgers’ first five opportunities to drive his team down the field to win the game with a touchdown or field goal last season, the Jets were 0-5. That doesn’t bode well for a Pittsburgh team that is now counting on a 41-year-old quarterback to help break their eight-year playoff drought.
“Eight years, no playoff wins,” Cowher said. “There is a degree of urgency in that building, no question about it…I think the biggest thing right now is going out there and try to bring this whole thing together. A lot of change in terms of the faces of this team. That doesn’t happen overnight. It takes time. Communication has to take place.”
And Rodgers is the quarterback Pittsburgh picked to help bring this whole thing together. Rodgers doesn’t have the level of autonomy over Pittsburgh’s roster and coaching staff he was initially given in New York. But even on the field, it’s been four years since Rodgers proved he was a quarterback worthy of having any sort of autonomy over the play-calling.