Steelers QB Aaron Rodgers will face is former Jets team this weekend, and naturally, that involves facing his former teammates. By and large, the Jets players who’ve spoken of their experience playing with him have been very positive. They typically mirror what we have heard Steelers players say about their first impressions of the seemingly enigmatic quarterback.
Two of Rodgers’ former Jets teammates, recently voted team captains, shared their thoughts on playing him in Week 1. OG Alijah Vera-Tucker is glad he is on offense, and thus doesn’t have to play him directly. In that way, he is keeping his attention on the Steelers’ defense, instead.
Personally, I think it’s cool, but at the same time, I’m just focusing on us and only us”, he said of playing Rodgers. “I think about the o-line, what we need to know to win this game. What kind of defense they run, what they’re all about. I’ll let the defense handle that”.
A former first-round pick, Vera-Tucker is going into his fifth season. He spent the past two years with Aaron Rodgers, blocking for him, at least when both were healthy. One hopes the Jets’ line will do a better job blocking for Justin Fields, though.
On the other side of the ball is ILB Jamien Sherwood, also in his fifth season, all with the Jets. On playing Aaron Rodgers and being on the field at the same time, he talked about the practicalities. “I’m not gonna say there’s any advantage” of having been his teammate, he said. “There’s stuff we’re working on to get better. There’s stuff we got better at from last year and vice versa. It will be cool to play against him. Obviously, he’s played here, we’ve built a friendship and stuff like that. But at the end of the day, we’re going out there with one goal in mind, and that’s play football”.
Although they aren’t talking up the matchup, the NFL certainly wishes it knew in advance when solidifying the schedule that Aaron Rodgers would definitely be on the Steelers’ roster to play the Jets. While they put the game in Week 1, they balked at putting it in prime time. And they basically admitted it would have been had they known for sure.
For his part, Rodgers hasn’t made much publicly or privately about facing the Jets this year. He says he gave everything he had there, but despite the relationship ending acrimoniously, he has moved on. Not that it wouldn’t feel good, I’m sure, to beat them.
Rodgers posted a 5-12 record with the Jets last season, but how much was that Rodgers, and how much was that the Jets? Both Russell Wilson and Justin Fields played better in Pittsburgh than they did the previous few seasons. A better team leads to better results, and surely, the Steelers are a better team on paper than the Jets. But that won’t stop friend Jermaine Johnson II from hunting him down.
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