EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. (AP) — Aaron Rodgers looked right at home with a touchdown pass on his first drive with the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Well, after the boos from New York Jets fans and the sack on the first play.
With New York leading the season opener 3-0, Rodgers jogged onto the field for the first time with the Steelers and the Jets fans in the MetLife Stadium stands — who once cheered him — greeted him with a loud chorus of boos.
Rodgers made his debut with Pittsburgh on Sunday to begin his 21st NFL season after a two-year stint with the Jets that included Super Bowl dreams and mostly disappointing results.
On his first snap with the Steelers — he didn’t play in the preseason — he was sacked by former teammate Quinnen Williams.
But then Rodgers went to work on an efficient drive, mixing passes and runs before rolling to his right and finding a wide-open Ben Skowronek for a 22-yard touchdown to give Pittsburgh a 7-3 lead with 3:38 left in the opening quarter.
Rodgers jogged to the end zone with the rest of the Steelers players to celebrate the score — his first in black and gold.
With the Steelers trailing 19-10, Rodgers got his second TD pass of the game on Pittsburgh’s fourth series on a jet sweep toss to Jonnu Smith for a 3-yard score. The tight end reached across the goal line and the ball touched the pylon for a touchdown with 32 seconds left in the second quarter.
Through the first half, Rodgers was 11 of 14 for 159 yards and the two touchdowns.
Rodgers, released by the Jets during the offseason when the new regime of coach Aaron Glenn and general manager Darren Mougey decided to go in a different direction at quarterback, downplayed any revenge angles leading up to the game — as did the Jets.
During warmups two hours before kickoff, Rodgers — wearing a black cap and a black-and-gold Steelers hoodie — was greeted by several of his former teammates and got big hugs from Williams, running back Breece Hall, backup quarterback Tyrod Taylor and edge rusher Jermaine Johnson, among others.
Rodgers is the headliner in the season-opening matchup, and for good reason. After all, his trade to the Jets during the offseason in 2023 made them instant championship contenders and a constant topic of conversation.
But four snaps into his debut in New York — moments after he carried the American field onto the field in pregame introductions — Rodgers went down with a torn left Achilles tendon and the Jets’ Super Bowl dreams immediately fizzled.
Rodgers made it back last season and threw 28 touchdown passes with 3,897 yards passing — both rank third for a single season in franchise history. But he lacked some mobility early in his return and then dealt with a few additional leg injuries, including a significant hamstring ailment.
The Jets’ offense with Rodgers struggled to produce, the defense was a shell of its formerly dominant self and it cost both general manager Joe Douglas and coach Robert Saleh their jobs in the middle of a 5-12 season.
In what turned out to be his final appearance with New York, Rodgers threw a season-high four touchdown passes in a win over Miami on Jan. 5 at MetLife Stadium. He became the fifth player in NFL history to reach 500 regular-season touchdown passes in that game.
He was told in February he would be released by the Jets — and Rodgers later balked at how the team handled his departure. Four months later, he decided to continue his playing career and signed a one-year, $13.65 million contract with the Steelers.
And he’s now facing Justin Fields, who was Pittsburgh’s starter early last season and led the Steelers to a 4-2 start before he sat in place of a healthy Russell Wilson. Fields signed a two-year, $40 million deal with the Jets in March.
The game marks the first time in NFL history that quarterbacks in Week 1 on both sides are facing the teams for which they started the season opener the previous year.
Rodgers and Fields are also the seventh and eighth quarterbacks overall to do so, according to Sportradar.
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