If Aaron Rodgers' big showcase 'is not a revenge game,' what is Packers-Steelers?

https://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/article/if-aaron-rodgers-big-showcase-is-not-a-revenge-game-what-is-packers-steelers-224233284.html

When the Pittsburgh Steelers visited the New York Jets the first week of the season, Jets running back Breece Hall asked his former quarterback: “How’s it feel?”

Aaron Rodgers was returning to MetLife Stadium as a visitor after spending the 2023 and 2024 seasons on the Jets’ roster, including 2024 in which he was healthy enough to play each week.

There were some emotions. But Rodgers put any nostalgia and animosity in perspective.

“I really only played 18 games here,” Rodgers said. “It doesn’t come close to how it’s going to feel playing Green Bay, because that was 18 years of my career.”

[Get more Steelers news: Pittsburgh team feed]

Rodgers’ chance to play against the Packers for the first time in his 21-year NFL career comes this weekend. It won’t reach peak sentimental as the Packers are visiting Acrisure Stadium in Pittsburgh rather than hosting the Steelers at Lambeau Field. But emotions will nonetheless enter the conversation as the team that selected Rodgers in the first round of the 2005 NFL Draft goes on to face the quarterback who won a Super Bowl and four MVP titles in its small town.

The game comes as Rodgers appears to be reaching a stride, his downfield passes and off-platform throws in recent weeks hardly belying his 41 years and nearly 11 months on this earth.

Both sides have sought to downplay the import of this matchup, Rodgers mentioning how many of his former teammates are no longer with the Packers while Green Bay head coach Matt LaFleur took issue with the description of his team going to play Rodgers.

“We’re playing the Pittsburgh Steelers, who happen to have Aaron Rodgers,” LaFleur said. “We’ve got a lot of respect and love for Aaron. I mean, what he’s done here — he is a Hall of Famer. I know our past together. We had a lot of great moments.

“But this game is not about that.”

The old days in Green Bay for Aaron Rodgers included four seasons with head coach Matt LaFleur. (Photo by Michael Reaves/Getty Images)

(Michael Reaves via Getty Images)

‘Absence makes the heart grow fonder,’ Rodgers says of Packers

Throughout Rodgers’ career, he has not been afraid to hold a grudge or remember a slight. Underestimations can motivate a person. Rodgers is no exception.

He allowed himself a moment walking off the MetLife field after his Week 1 win featuring four touchdowns, Rodgers cupping his ears after an afternoon of boos to send the message: “There were probably people in the organization that didn’t think I could play anymore. So it was nice to remind those people I still can.”

Members of Green Bay’s leadership also readied to usher Rodgers out the door a half-decade ago, before he was ready. Rodgers knows his Green Bay predecessor, Brett Favre, staged a revenge game while playing for the Minnesota Vikings against the Packers. But the comparison is not exact, Rodgers told reporters this week. Rodgers is not playing for an NFC North rival, or even an NFC team. Two years in the AFC East with a dysfunctional Jets team influence his perspective on his split from Green Bay.

“Obviously would’ve loved to ride off in the sunset up there,” Rodgers said. “That’s not the way the league goes sometimes, and I knew the writing was on the wall when Jordan was picked and it was a matter of time. I happened to win MVP the first two years he was with us, but I knew at some point there would be a change, and if I wanted to play it’d probably have to be elsewhere.

“But absence makes the heart grow fonder … and this is not a revenge game for me.”

What is this game then, and what storylines will neither side deny?

This game will be a reflection of the Packers’ storied history at quarterback, their consecutive finds in Favre, Rodgers and now Love a testament to organizational patience and sharp talent evaluation that has spared Green Bay from the quarterback wilderness teams so often find.

This game will reflect a quarterback in Rodgers who grew up as a person and player in Green Bay, Rodgers’ arm talent, athleticism, decision-making and edge-finding storied throughout the country but most acutely in the NFL’s smallest host town.

Also notable: Love’s development, thanks in part to Rodgers even as the former was coming for the latter’s job. LaFleur and Love credited Rodgers this week not only for treating Love better than Favre treated Rodgers, but also for teaching Love tips on footwork and cadence, how to create holes in tight windows and how to put a premium on ball security.

“He didn’t throw a lot of picks in practice and it would all translate to the games,” Love said of their three overlapping years. “But I think that’s just the experience he has, understanding the defenses, understanding where he needs to go with the ball and not making bad choices with it.

“The decision-making, being smart — that’s what he did every day.”

Packers-Steelers may come down to whether Rodgers turns back clock

After a season-ending Achilles tear the first week of 2023, and a 2024 year complicated by a carousel of leadership and a calf strain, Rodgers’ performance this season has exceeded many expectations.

Through six games, he’s completed 68.6% of pass attempts for 1,270 yards, 14 touchdowns and five interceptions. Rodgers’ 8.1% touchdown percentage on throws leads the league, reminiscent of the four NFL seasons in which he paced the NFL in that category. His 105.0 passer rating ranks ninth.

Highlight-reel plays from Rodgers in recent weeks caught LaFleur’s eye. Off-schedule throws, deep balls featuring the arm strength of a younger man and pinpoint accuracy shine through.

“It looks like he can still do anything,” LaFleur said. “What’s surprising for such an old man [is] he’s still moving around pretty good, too, and you’ve seen it in multiple games.

“There was one — I know the ball ended up getting picked off, but it is two man on DK [Metcalf] and he threads the needle and the DB just ripped it away. But it was a great pass. It’s just, this guy is extremely accurate and he can, if you give him just a sliver of light, he can fit the ball in there.”

The Packers will aim not to give Rodgers said sliver as they come to town with the sixth-best defense and 10^th-best scoring defense. Green Bay’s 5.4 yards per passing play and 4.48 yards per play allowed are league-best marks, the Packers also allowing the fewest yards per attempt (5.8) when pressuring.

Green Bay has succeeded pressuring teams with just four linemen after the August acquisition of Pro Bowl pass rusher Micah Parsons, whom Rodgers said the Steelers must game-plan around and double-team to neutralize. Rodgers’ quick passes — which he’s thrown on 53.5% of attempts this year, third-most in the league — could neutralize the impact of a rush, provided targets pick up where their quarterback leaves off.

Love will similarly need to account for Steelers All-Pro edge rusher T.J. Watt’s game-wrecking instincts.

The chance to show the Packers, with whom Rodgers said this week he plans to retire, what he can do in Year 21 excites Rodgers.

And to win — that’s what both quarterbacks will most focus on.

“We’re not going against each other head-on-head really, but obviously it’s going to be a fun game,” Love said. “Like you said, we’re both competitors. We both want to come out with this win.”

https://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/article/if-aaron-rodgers-big-showcase-is-not-a-revenge-game-what-is-packers-steelers-224233284.html