PITTSBURGH (AP) — Aaron Rodgers woke up after the first game of his 21st season with the typical aches and pains that come with getting chased and occasionally hit by 300-pound men, but nothing out of the ordinary.
“I didn’t take too many big shots,” the Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback said.
The NFL’s oldest active player threw for four touchdowns but also absorbed four sacks during Pittsburgh’s 34-32 victory over the New York Jets on Sunday, though the 41-year-old made it a point to take some of the blame away from his new-look offensive line.
Rodgers said he thinks he ran into at least two of those sacks. Then there was the reality that comes with playing at full speed for the first time in eight months after Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin opted to let Rodgers watch the entire preseason from the sideline.
“I wasn’t moving as well as I wanted to,” said Rodgers, who added his back was a little “tight.”
A dip in the cold tub and a massage on Monday, both of which Rodgers called pretty standard at this point in his career, helped him move past it pretty quickly.
Still, the men who work in front of him know the breakdowns that ended up with Rodgers lying on the MetLife Stadium turf need to come further and farther between going forward, left tackle Broderick Jones in particular.
A first-round pick two years ago, Jones’ first start protecting Rodgers’ blindside didn’t exactly go as planned. He surrendered three of the four sacks Rodgers took, including two at the hands of New York defensive end Will McDonald.
“I can’t put that on tape,” Jones said. “I know that everybody knows that. So, you know, we just can’t have that performance again.”
Not if the Steelers (1-0) want to turn their promising opener into something meaningful anyway.
While everyone from Tomlin to Rodgers stressed they remain confident the 24-year-old tackle can turn things around quickly, the reality is that Jones finds himself at a pretty pivotal juncture in his still young career.
The Steelers let Dan Moore Jr. leave for Tennessee in free agency in March, paving the way for Jones to flip from right tackle to the left side, with 2024 first-round pick Troy Fautanu taking Jones’ old spot. Over the next four months, Jones needs to do enough to convince the Steelers they should pick up his fifth-year option.
It’s hardly a given.
Pittsburgh hasn’t exercised the option on a first-round pick since doing it for star outside linebacker T.J. Watt, the 30th overall pick in 2017. The list of those they walked away from a year early (or more) includes linebacker Devin Bush ( 10th overall in 2019 ) and running back Najee Harris. Kenny Pickett, their top pick in 2022, didn’t even make it to his third season with the Steelers before they chose to move on.
“You know everything’s not going to always be perfect,” Jones said. “But at the end of the day, it’s my job to protect Aaron and I didn’t do that.”
Jones isn’t the only one tasked with that responsibility. The Jets were credited with seven quarterback hits total, part of a somewhat shaky performance by a line in which four of the five starters have three years or less experience in the NFL.
Yes, it wasn’t great. It was also Week 1, when things tend to get magnified in ways they might not be as the season evolves.
“The first game of the year, it’s going to be a little sloppy,” center Zach Frazier said. “We’re not exactly sure what the defense is going to bring out there. Not exactly sure how they’re going to line up, stuff like that. It’s a little sloppy, but I think once you get a couple games in, it’s going to clean up a lot.”
The challenge won’t get much easier this week against the Seahawks (0-1), who have one of the more aggressive defensive fronts in the league. Seattle hit San Francisco’s Brock Purdy nine times last Sunday, and in veterans Leonard Williams and DeMarcus Lawrence, the Seahawks have two of the most experienced edge rushers in the league.
Jones likened his mindset to that of a defensive back in that he can’t let one poor play or one bad day bleed into the next. Longtime teammate Darnell Washington — who played with Jones at Georgia before the two were part of Pittsburgh’s 2023 draft — took Jones one step further.
“He’s just got to go in the next game, clean slate, just forget about it,” Washington said. “Kind of like in basketball. Like they say, ‘shooters shoot.’ Sometimes shooters will miss a shot, but they’re on to the next.”
Rodgers doesn’t appear worried. At least not yet. He’s been doing this a long time. He knows where the attention goes when he ends up on his back. He also knows it’s not as cut and dried as that. There’s more he can do, and expects to do, going forward.
“I might be old, but I still feel like I can move around pretty good, and I wasn’t moving the way I usually like to move,” Rodgers said. “There’s a couple fundamental things to clean up, but (offensive line coach) Pat (Meyer) is going to take care of those guys, and I’ve just got to get the ball out.”
NOTES: The Steelers officially signed veteran safety Jabrill Peppers on Wednesday and promoted safety James Pierre to the practice squad. Pittsburgh also placed linebacker Malik Harrison (knee) and quarterback Skylar Thompson (hamstring) on injured reserve.
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