Aaron Rodgers lets the cat out of the bag regarding whether or not he will play in the preseason opener against the Jaguars
He made it clear.
The first game of the Pittsburgh Steelers’ season is here.
Sure, it’s not football that counts, but the Black and Gold will be back in action this week.
Will Aaron Rodgers play? He has an idea…
Aaron Rodgers doesn’t expect to play in the preseason opener
“That’s an interesting conversation Mike and I will have at some point,” Rodgers told the media on Wednesday. “I don’t think it’s in the plan for me to play this week. Whatever Mike wants to do, I’m fully on board. He wants me to go out there and play, I’ll play. If not, then I won’t . . .
“ . . .With all due respect (then I can say whatever I want), preseason football is not necessarily real football, because the defenses just don’t do a lot. The offenses don’t ether. So you go out there with a very limited playbook against a defense that’s playing one-high zone, one-high man, two-high zone. There’s not much pressure. Oftentimes, there’s communication between the coaches about ‘hey, we’re not going to pressure this week,’ or maybe you’ll see a little pressure.”
When you’re 41 going on 42, and have played more games than probably anyone in the league at this point, you just don’t need the preseason reps. Would you like him to build more camaraderie with his pass catchers? Of course.
But to Rodgers’ point, the Steelers can do that next week when they welcome the Tampa Bay Buccaneers to Pittsburgh for a joint practice. Not only will the defense be more inclined to use their full menu of plays and personnel packages, but the biggest factor is the control of it all.
It might be live, but there is no hitting of the quarterback and none of the in-game requirements that you have even in the preseason. Unfortunately, joint practices are closed to the public, and the media is not allowed to share clips like normally in Latrobe, but we can still from some takeaways next week.
Then we will have a clearer picture of this offense and what they can be ahead of the season.
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