The Steelers are 1-3 in their past four games, but Aaron Rodgers isn’t about to give on the season. He provided perspective after the game, and given his history in the league, few have more perspective to offer. This is a team with issues, make no mistake about that, but it’s also a team with talent.
Multiple times during his post-game press conference, Rodgers addressed questions about how the Steelers moved forward. His answer was simple: basically, they just move on, and from a good starting point.
“We’re 5-4. We’re ahead by a game in the division”, Rodgers said, via the Steelers’ website. “We’ve got to play better on offense, for sure, but this is part of the season. There’s ebbs and flows; there’s ups and downs. We can’t ride the wave. It felt like our energy—and it starts with me—it wasn’t as great on offense. I felt like we were just kind of struggling a little bit and couldn’t get a play to get going”.
This should certainly be the view of anybody on the inside, but it’s understandable why we, on the outside looking in, have little choice but to see the greater picture. We have no say in how they move forward. But for Aaron Rodgers, he knows it’s up to himself and his teammates to make the Steelers winners next time. They not looking at their stat lines and thinking, “We can’t do this”. They just show up to practice and try to get better. And there is a lot of room for improvement right now.
“We had so many three-and-outs. And we hurt ourselves with a couple penalties and I didn’t play very good at all”, Rodgers said, summarizing the Steelers’ miserable night. “I’ve got to play better. But we’ve also got to realize this, and we’ve got four division games left to play. It’s a long season”.
Rodgers clarified his comment about the energy, saying that it’s not something he felt among the Steelers all week, or even before the game. It’s just how the game developed, chalking it up to “one of those days”. It’s not often that you have seven drives without picking up a first down. Indeed, the Steelers had 12 drives in all. They only picked up multiple first downs on three of them, resulting in seven points.
Rodgers really did have his worst game, including an overthrow for an interception, though his second interception was Calvin Austin III’s fault. There was Ke’Shawn Williams’ muffed punt and Joey Porter Jr.’s dropped interception. There was Chris Boswell’s missed field goal and Brandin Echols’ bad read on Ladd McConkey’s touchdown. Many things went wrong in this one, but most of them are uncommon, and all correctable.
And, yes, the Steelers are still a winning team and still leading the division—at least for now. It’s better than the alternative, anyway, even if everybody is predicting that the Ravens will steamroll them from behind. But if Rodgers and the Steelers let that happen, they only have themselves to blame. They know their fate is still in their hands—until it isn’t.
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