By Ray Porter Jr. for Urban Media Today
PITTSBURGH, PA–In what was supposed to be a memorable reunion for Pittsburgh Steelers QB Aaron Rodgers, turned into a night he would rather forget as his former team, the Green Bay Packers came into Acrisure Stadium and left with a 35-25 victory in front of 67,386 fans (Steelers and Packers) and a NBC Sunday Night Football National TV audience.
Rodgers was drafted by the Packers in 2005 and played 18 seasons that included 4 NFL MVP awards and a Super Bowl 45 victory (vs. the Steelers) in which he was also named MVP.
“Disappointed,” said Rodgers. “Disappointed that I didn’t play better, that we didn’t play better. Especially in the second half.”
But despite his disappointment, Rodgers expressed his gratitude in seeing his former team. “This game is about relationships, so some of my dearest friends are not players, and the guys who are still over there, you know with many of those guys. J-Love (QB Justin Love) was in the room with me for three years, but most of those guys were young guys, other than Rashan Gary, who played with me for a few years. So, the guys that I spent 18 years with…training staff, the equipment staff, nutritionists, Connor Lewis who was in our room for a while, Luke Getsy was there, Butkus, Stenavich, you know guys I spent a lot of time with. Those friendships are special, and it was good to see those guys.”
The game itself started off with promise as the Steelers had a 16-7 lead at halftime, but things unraveled for them in the second half as the Packers scored 28 unanswered points en route to the victory.
“Congratulations to the Green Bay Packers, a victorious performance.” Said Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin. “From us, we just simply have to get a lot better in a lot of areas, in all areas, but some really specific areas that are critical to winning. We can’t settle for field goals versus good p people, and that was kind of an issue throughout. We got behind the chains somewhat, so we got into scoring territory, be it a penalty or a lost yardage first play on first down, and it was uphill from there, and we settled for field goals too often. You’re just not going to win close ball games, man, when you’re doing that.”
After scoring 31 points in a loss vs. the Bengals, Rodgers (24/36, 219 yards, 2 TDs) and the Steelers offense struggled mightily, especially after losing their lead, which didn’t give them a chance to capitalize on their running game, which rushed for 93 yards. (62 from RB Jaylen Warren)
“You know, I thought we got behind the chains, and when you get behind the chains, man, you’re not in advantageous circumstances,” said Tomlin. “It’s a challenge with their rush and some of the rush people that they have. You got to protect it. You got to go downfield, and the best course of action is to stay on schedule, and we weren’t on schedule that was challenging enough, particularly in the second half.”
Wide Receivers DK Metcalf (5 rec, 55 yards) and Roman Wilson (career-high 74 yards on 4 catches) caught TD passes from Rodgers and K Chris Boswell 3 field goals for the Steelers (4-3).
But for the second straight week, the Steelers defense failed to live up to their standards as they were unable to get to Love as he shredded them with 360 passing yards and 3 TDs, 143 yards went to TE Tucker Kraft. The other TD went to WR Savion Williams. RB Josh Jacobs (13 carries, 33 yards) added a rushing TD for the Packers (5-2)
The Steelers defense was unable to sack Love, and the secondary wasn’t effective against the receivers. It was truly a frustrating evening for Defensive Coordinator Teryl Austin and Crew.
“You know, we all have to own it,” said Tomlin.” Certainly, you start with the schematics because that’s the leadership component of it, and certainly we’ll be looking at everything that we’re doing, man, because some of these problems are somewhat repetitive. We’re not getting better fast enough.”
The Steelers now have a week to prepare for the AFC’s best team (by record) the 7-1 Indianapolis Colts as they arrive in Pittsburgh next Sunday. The defense will face another major test with a revived QB Daniel Jones (2,062 yards, 13 TDs) and the NFL’s leading rusher in Jonathan Taylor (850 yards, 12 TDs) their goal is to do whatever it takes to turn things around.
“So, we got a big game coming up here in a short period of time.” Said Tomlin. “We got to get in and look at this, man, and make the necessary adjustments and alterations to what it is that we’re doing and the effort to change the outcome of this thing.”
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