Aaron Rodgers led the Pittsburgh Steelers to a 34-32 victory over his former team, the New York Jets.
Aaron Rodgers led the Pittsburgh Steelers to a 34-32 comeback victory over his former team, the New York Jets.
The 41-year-old quarterback threw for 244 yards and four touchdowns in his first game with the Steelers.
Rodgers acknowledged he was happy to beat the Jets after the organization decided to move in a different direction.
EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — The dichotomy of Aaron Rodgers was on full display Sunday behind the podium at MetLife Stadium, minutes after the Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback authored his latest come-from-behind victory, albeit the first in his new uniform.
It was merely a Week 1 victory, the first of 17 games, he repeated. Already, he’s adopted Pittsburgh head coach Mike Tomlin’s “the standard is the standard” idiom. But he wasn’t overly shy about the fact he had something to prove to the New York Jets, the organization that essentially told him “thanks but no thanks” after two dramatic years that is probably best characterized as mostly disastrous.
“I was happy to beat everybody associated with the Jets,” Rodgers said.
A seemingly revitalized Rodgers – who signed with the Pittsburgh Steelers after a prolonged courtship (the quarterback cited “personal reasons” for the delay) – led his team to a 34-32 victory over his former squad. The 41-year-old threw his counterpunch to Father Time with four touchdown passes and 244 yards on 22-for-30 passing.
It was a day of firsts for Rodgers wearing the black and gold, but it marked his 24th career comeback victory and 35th game-winning drive.
“I love beating everybody,” Rodgers said. “It doesn’t matter who it is.”
Before the game, Rodgers caught up with Jets running back and former teammate Breece Hall, who asked him how it felt to be back at MetLife facing his former team. Rodgers quickly pointed out that he only played 18 games here. He said the emotions won’t be close to what he will experience Week 8 when the Steelers host the Green Bay Packers, the team he played for during the first 18 seasons of his storied career.
The last time Rodgers made a debut at MetLife Stadium, it was the most devastating night of his career. Everybody, especially Jets fans, remembers. In his Jets’ debut, the first time he didn’t wear a Packers jersey to that point, ended four plays into his New York career with a torn Achilles and a lost season that included the firing of Robert Saleh and a 14th consecutive season without a playoff berth for the franchise.
“The energy definitely felt different today,” Rodgers said about Sept. 11, 2023, when he took the field to an elated crowd while carrying an American flag. “Anybody who was there could feel that there was a major difference.”
As Rodgers took the field at 1:12 p.m. local time Sunday, Jets fans – only a little bit more than half of the crowd – serenaded him with boos. He heard the “cat calls and boo birds.”
“I’m not sensitive about that. I respect that. I kind of like that,” Rodgers said. “But there were probably people in the organization that didn’t think I could play anymore so it was nice to (show) those people I still can.”
That was an obvious reference to his offseason meeting with new Jets head coach Aaron Glenn and the new front office. It was conveyed to Rodgers, in his words, that he wasn’t right for the direction the Jets wanted to go.
“Yes, that’s what (Glenn) did,” Rodgers replied when asked about the interaction that he first detailed months ago during a “Pat McAfee Show” appearance.
To have a season taken away, battle back and have a rough season in 2024, he said, was not easy for him to stomach. He gave as much as he could to the Jets. No hard feelings about that, he added. But he didn’t necessarily appreciate how the Jets handled the decision by making him fly cross-country to deliver the news they were moving in a different direction.
“That’s in the past,” the four-time MVP said, “and we’re 1-0.”
The Athletic columnist and Rodgers biographer Ian O’Connor asked him about his career mission dating back to his high school days of overcoming slights.
“You already wrote about that,” Rodgers said.
So was the hype about Rodgers’ return overblown? Nope, he said. Did he have something to prove? Also no, apparently.
At times, Rodgers looked like a sitting duck in the pocket and his former Jets teammates made him pay by sacking him four times. Rodgers was still mobile enough to fake a handoff and roll to the right and lead Jaylen Warren for an easy walk-in touchdown on the first play of the fourth quarter to cut the Steelers’ deficit to two points at 26-24.
Four plays later, after a Jets’ special-teams blunder that gave Pittsburgh the ball back, he found Calvin Austin III for a go-ahead touchdown. Thanks to some ball luck on the final drive – even though the offense couldn’t convert on the plus-side of the field – Pittsburgh kicker Chris Boswell nailed the game-winning field goal from 60 yards out with 63 seconds left on the clock.
Throughout the game, but particularly in the fourth quarter, right guard Isaac Seumalo found Rodgers to be calm and confident. No stage is too big for No. 8, Seumalo said.
“I always say the best players have the foundation of just being excellent in the basics, and then the creativity, to improvise on the run,” Seumalo told USA TODAY Sports. “He knows how to make the game easy, make it slow, improvise when he needs to. He played great today.
“This is what we expect from him. And he expects that from himself too.”
Tight end Jonnu Smith, who caught one of Rodgers’ touchdown on a goal-line pop pass with 32 seconds before halftime, said he’s long known the type of player Rodgers is but has been impressed by how he comports himself as a teammate.
Rodgers said he’s always tried to have meaningful conversations and will talk to guys before, during and after practice. He mentioned how he asked wide receiver D.K. Metcalf (four catches, 83 yards), another Steelers’ offseason acquisition, during camp – they shared a bathroom – to give him a report early in game week about how he viewed his matchups and what he wanted to see in the game plan. Rodgers didn’t think much about it after the ask. But come Tuesday of last week, Metcalf authored a lengthy text message to him.
“We just wanted to play for each other and play for (number) eight,” said Austin III, who had four catches for 83 yards. “When we go out there, we have his full confidence that whatever he’s saying, he’s getting us in the best position.”
The identity of the offense – offensive coordinator Arthur Smith called 30 passes compared to 20 rushes, though Pittsburgh trailed most of the game had something to do with that – will vary week-to-week and is based in selflessness, Austin said.
“It doesn’t matter if it’s running or passing,” he said, “it’s playing for each other. I know one thing – our identity is that we’re going to be with each other.”
Rodgers still holds fond feelings for people associated with the Jets. He named backup quarterback Tyrod Taylor, linebacker Quincy Williams and running backs Braelon Allen and Hall as individuals he was glad he saw on the field before the game. He even warmed up with a ballboy he worked with during his time with the Jets.
Rodgers wondered how he would react once the competitive juices started flowing on the sideline. He thanked his still-anonymous wife and circle of friends for encouraging him to take time with the decision.
“Happy to be a Steeler,” Rodgers said, “and happy things went the way they did.”
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