Over the course of the offseason, everyone wanted to know what Aaron Rodgers was going to look like as a Pittsburgh Steeler. Our first glimpse last Sunday ended up being a great one. His four-touchdown performance has earned him plenty of acclaim, but former NFL quarterback Kurt Warner isn't hopping on the hype train just yet.
"I wasn't in love with either one of their performances as well as the national media is," Warner said Wednesday of Aaron Rodgers and Justin Fields on The Rich Eisen Show. "I think there's some flaws there. Most of his big plays came off naked bootlegs. That's going to be a part of what they do; Aaron's very very good at that. But when he had to drop back and play the position like we saw when he was an MVP, I thought he was very uneasy in the pocket, looking to get to his checkdowns very quickly."
There's a lot to unpack from Rodgers' performance, and pretty much everything stemmed from a problem with the offensive line. Last year in New York, Rodgers played behind a bad line and got the ball out of his hands quicker than we've normally seen from him, in an effort not to take too many hits. Behind Pittsburgh's line last Sunday, he had to do the same thing and still ended up taking four sacks.
That said, it's not like things weren't working. DK Metcalf ate up yards after the catch on short throws. Aaron Rodgers threw short touchdown passes to Jaylen Warren and Jonnu Smith. This offense was always going to focus on getting the ball into the receivers' hands quickly. But the Steelers couldn't run the ball against the Jets and couldn't pass protect. In that respect, OC Arthur Smith didn't have much of a choice but to have Rodgers look to make quick decisions.
When he had to, Rodgers still made the throws. He had a few accurate back-shoulder throws and rolled out to hit Calvin Austin III and Ben Skowronek on longer touchdowns. The Steelers don't need him to make those throws all the time, but he showed he still has the arm to do it.
At the end of the day, it's really hard to find actual flaws in Rodgers' performance. Warner points to him throwing on the run, but the Steelers had no choice with how poorly the offense line played. It is absolutely a flaw, but one that belongs more to that unit than Rodgers.
Aaron Rodgers did exactly what the Steelers needed last Sunday. To Warner's dismay, he didn't sit in the pocket and pick the defense apart all game. However, when your line isn't blocking, that's not possible. He still completed over 70 percent of his throws and threw for nearly 250 yards with no interceptions. In a gusty road win, that surely feels like a performance worth loving.
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