Jim Schwartz
During practices and walkthroughs to prepare for the Steelers, Schwartz has been imitating Rodgers' hard count. Against the Steelers, Schwartz and the Browns' defense will be in charge of containing Rodgers.
Schwartz stressed that Rodgers likes to catch the defense sleeping and force them to commit a penalty to give Rodgers a free play that could turn into an explosive play. On those free plays, Rodgers will showcase a throwing ability that head coach Kevin Stefanski said was one of the best he has ever seen. Schwartz echoed Stefanski's statement, saying that Rodgers has a big arm with which he can throw the ball.
"It doesn't always look the way that other people's – there's classic throwers and things like that. He's just got such a loose arm where he can throw from six million different angles," Schwartz said. "He's extremely accurate. He's been an outstanding quarterback, been a Super Bowl winner. We certainly have a lot of respect for him and we're going to have to play our best."
Rodgers leads the NFL in time to throw at 2.52 seconds according to NFL Next Gen Stats, getting the ball out quickly. Schwartz attributed the quick throws to short passes to players, but he noted the yards after catch that the Steelers are getting on such plays. This season, Rodgers has put the ball in front of his pass catchers to allow them to run after the catch and make the big play. In Week 4 against the Vikings, Rodgers threw a 15-yard pass in front of WR DK Metcalf on the right hash, allowing him to run following the pass for an 80-yard receiving touchdown.
"I think it's somewhere in the neighborhood of 70 percent of their passing yards are run after the catch, and that's a ridiculously high number, but that's a tribute to him," Schwartz said. "Number one, he's throwing accurate passes that allow them to run after the catch and just knowing where to go and just putting the ball in your playmaker's hands."