Aaron Rodgers is coming off his worst game of the season for the Steelers, but he isn’t worried—about his play or the team’s. He’s been around the block and then some and has experienced every variable, so he has a very seasoned outlook. While he knows he and the team have to play better, he also knows that they can play better.
“It’s just consistency. If the process is right, you don’t have to make any major changes or freak out”, Rodgers said, via the Steelers’ website. “It’s the nature of the league. There’s gonna be a stinker every now and then. You’ve just got to bounce back, get back to the things you do and get back in your routine and try and be better the next week”.
Rodgers knows he didn’t play well against the Chargers, and he was the first to acknowledge that after the game. But he also knows it’s not just on him—as does the rest of the team. On one of the key plays early in the game, DK Metcalf acknowledged making a mistake on what could have been a crucial touchdown.
In his worst game with the Steelers, Aaron Rodgers went 16-of-31 for just 161 yards. He finally threw a late touchdown pass to Roman Wilson, but the game was well out of reach by then. Although he did throw two interceptions, the second was entirely on WR Calvin Austin III, who dropped the ball.
Rodgers also made sure to credit the Chargers defense, a unit that came to play and knew it had to. “They’ve got a good defense. They clamped us down, and a couple of throws I usually hit, I missed. That’s the main reasons”, he said, for the Steelers’ struggles. After the game, he did fault his receivers for struggling to get open—as did one of those receivers, TE Pat Freiermuth.
This last game certainly was a stinker, not just for Aaron Rodgers but for the whole team. Even the defense deserves its share of the blame, despite being the best of Pittsburgh’s three units. Chris Boswell missed a field goal and Ke’Shawn Williams muffed a punt, so that certainly didn’t help matters, either.
While this wasn’t quite an “everything that can go wrong will go wrong” game for the Steelers, it felt close to it. And those things don’t typically repeat themselves very often. Rodgers should certainly play much better this week against the Bengals. He has played well for most of the season and made plays in key spots.
This reminds me of the final years of former Yankees closer Mariano Rivera. Every time he allowed a run—let alone actually blew a save—the media opined that this could finally be the end for the great one. It never was though, until he decided to call it a career. In other words, to echo Aaron Rodgers: R-E-L-A-X. It might not be great, but it certainly will be better than last week.
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