The Pittsburgh Steelers got good news with Aaron Rodgers’ wrist injury as Mike Tomlin confirmed Tuesday reports that he will not require surgery. But that doesn’t mean he is automatically cleared to play this Sunday against the Chicago Bears. He needs to show both the Pittsburgh coaching and medical staff a few things before being cleared.
Tomlin outlined the specific checklist they will work through to clear Rodgers.
“The variables are, stabilizing it and making sure that he’s safe. That he can protect himself and brace himself as he falls,” Tomlin said via the Steelers’ YouTube. “Pain tolerance, but that doesn’t seem to be an issue with Aaron. He wanted to go back in the game on Sunday. And then lastly, obviously, how effective he can be. So Friday’s probably a big day.”
Rodgers is in his 21st NFL season. He’s played through a myriad of injuries to know how to deal with pain tolerance. Of all the body parts a quarterback can hurt, the non-throwing arm is the least consequential. He has that going for him, but Tomlin and the medical staff won’t allow him to go out there if he can’t protect himself.
Tomlin confirmed that Rodgers is pushing them to play.
“He’s working his tail off to be a component of this this week. He and I talked yesterday. He expressed that directly,” Tomlin said. “I’m of the mindset of supporting that, while at the same time, I’ve got a healthy collective of guys as a team and as a unit to ready.”
Mason Rudolph arguably led the offense to more success in the second half against the Bengals than Rodgers was able to before his injury on Sunday. Rudolph has the trust of both the coaching staff and his teammates in the locker room. That lowers the sense of urgency to rush Rodgers back if they have any doubts about his safety.
Veteran players like Rodgers don’t need much practice time, if any, to be able to play on Sunday. Mike Tomlin expressed as much in his press conference today. It’s entirely possible that Rodgers gets just one limited practice on Friday and carries a questionable designation into the weekend as a game-time decision.
If that’s the case, we may not know until 90 minutes before kickoff whether or not Rodgers is starting.
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