Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Aaron Rodgers hopes to 'have a Guinness' with Cleveland Browns defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz after their 14th matchup Sunday
16:03 ET, 09 Oct 2025
Aaron Rodgers smiles after beating the Minnesota Vikings in Dublin
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Aaron Rodgers and the Pittsburgh Steelers are 3-1 to start the 2025 NFL season(Image: Jack Thomas/Getty Images)
Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Aaron Rodgers will lean on his 21 years of NFL experience when going up against a long-time foe in Cleveland Browns defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz this weekend.
Sunday’s Week 6 matchup between the Browns and Steelers will see Rodgers go up against a Schwartz-coached defense for the 14th time in the future Hall of Famer’s storied career. When Rodgers, 41, and Schwartz, 59, both decide to call it a career, the Steelers signal-caller said he’d "love to have a Guinness with him when we're both done."
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"I've gone against Jim over the years, enjoyed our side conversations as well," Rodgers said, per CBS Sports. "He told me a couple years ago he was going to be done, but he keeps coming back. He's a (heck) of a coach.”
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Rodgers boasts a career 9-4 record when going up against Schwartz, with all 13 matchups coming during the quarterback’s time playing for the Green Bay Packers.
Schwartz, now coaching in his 22nd NFL season, resided in the NFC North with Rodgers for five seasons when he was head coach of the Detroit Lions from 2009 to 2013.
Schwartz was hired as Cleveland’s defensive coordinator in 2023, the same title he previously held with the Tennessee Titans (2001 to 2008), Buffalo Bills (2014) and Philadelphia Eagles (2016 to 2020).
Jim Schwartz's Cleveland Browns defense allows the second-fewest yards per game in the NFL this season
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Browns defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz is coaching in his 22nd NFL season(Image: Photo by Nick Cammett/Diamond Images via Getty Images)
Rodgers is keenly familiar with a wide variety of NFL defenses, including Schwartz’s.
The four-time NFL MVP noted the Browns DC likes to play eight men in the box with a lot of two-high safety looks.
“They have a lot of different defenses from the same looks. It's a defense that works really well together on the back end, as far as disguises,” Rodgers said, per a Steelers release.
“But, yeah, they were doing that differently, you know, 11, 12, 13 years ago. But just like how you stick in this league, you've got to evolve, and Coach has evolved."
A major challenge this iteration of Schwartz’s defense will pose for the Steelers on Sunday is the presence of All-Pro pass rusher Myles Garrett, who Rodgers described as a “Hall of Famer.”
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"There have been a few guys over the years like that, not many," Rodgers said of Garrett, who, since entering the NFL in 2017, has 106.5 sacks, second-most in the league behind Pittsburgh edge rusher TJ Watt.
Garrett failed to sack Rodgers in their one matchup against each other on Christmas Day in 2021, which the 41-year-old credited to his offense’s quick-passing game plan that kept Garrett from getting to the quarterback.
Despite his past successes, Rodgers should have his hands full on Sunday going up against the Schwartz- and Garrett-led Browns defense.