Exclusive Interview with Aaron Rodgers | 1-on-1 | Pittsburgh Steelers

Exclusive Interview with Aaron Rodgers | 1-on-1 | Pittsburgh Steelers

[Music] Aarin, being here at St. Vincent College in LRO, what has this experience been like for you? I’d say it’s a bit of a throwback for me just because we did this same concept for 14 years in Green Bay. We stayed at St. Norbert’s across town and it gives you the opportunity to actually really uh connect with your teammates cuz there’s nowhere to go. You know, we’re stuck here at the dorms. Um, so it’s been really fun whether it’s card playing or I’m not a gamer but you know all these kids are are video gamers so just you know getting to spend time with these guys pretty cool. Is there anything about a Steelers training camp practice or environment that surprises you? It’s definitely harder than some of the camps I’ve been in the past. Uh hadn’t been a part of tackling and practice for a long time. So that’s been pretty cool. I just like the professional environment. you know, starts with Mike and his uh expectations for the tempo of practice and the professionalism. It’s been really fun to see. It’s been hot, really hot, you know, hotter than usual uh that I’m used to for training camp. Uh so that’s a good uh, you know, good stressor on our bodies. It’s always fun to see kind of how guys respond to that. You talked about wanting to be an expert in this Arthur Smith offense. How exactly is the process? Can you break down how you go about doing that and where do you feel like you are right now? Uh, I think I’m pretty close. For me, it’s what image is coming to my mind when I break the huddle. For me, I have a lot of offenses in my mind. I got the old school West Coast offense from 2005. I got Mike’s iteration of it from 2006 to 2018. Then I got the Matt Laflur offense in 2019 and then the kind of the hybrid that we did in 2020 to 2022. And then I have Nate Hackett’s version of that 23 and 24. And now I got Arthur Smith’s version. So, the pictures are starting to crystallize a little bit better uh as we get into the third week here. A lot of your new teammates have said that you’re very calm in the huddle. You can also crack a joke at the same time, but you also have a very high standard for the attention to detail. How do you balance that and when did you become really good at that? I think it’s a learned trait for sure. It starts with a mastery of the system. Then you can know what everybody’s doing on every play. The game is played with reactions and so I don’t want guys thinking out there. I want guys to have a mastery of the system and then to go out and use their god-given ability to to react to what they see. So, I just always want the guys to be uh locked in at the same time. You know, this is a kids game, so we should be having fun out here. We should be able to to to crack some jokes and rib each other and stuff like that. So, just that’s a part of the getting to know your teammates part which guys you can you can get on and tease about certain things. You know, some guys are wired super tight. Those are the easiest. You know, some guys are more loose. And so you got to find find a way to connect to them and find a way to to have some sort of uh personal uh one-on-one with every player in order to to kind of build that relationship. Who’s the easiest to get under their skin? Oh, Zack, of course, Zack Frasier. I mean, Zach is is such a great player. I mean, he’s going to have a long career in the league. Um, but he’s wired real type A and uh those are the easiest guys to get on. But, you know, the center has to be the mouthpiece of the quarterback and I’m the mouthpiece of the coordinator. And so we all got to be in sync, but we also got to be enjoying ourselves and not taking everything too seriously out there. We’ll have to check back on that. Uh how you’ve done in terms of breaking I’m breaking I’m breaking them. I’m breaking. Coach Arth had said that you prefer a paper playbook in terms of a binder. Um is that still the case? Is anybody else following suit? Are you getting any comments or questions about that? I’m from the uh analog days. Uh the most of the younger players, I won’t say kids again, but younger players, they grew up on iPads, so it’s second nature. And the iPads are great. You can write notes in there and everything, but I just always like uh having multiple uh ways to remember things. So I can see it on the board, that’s one. I can see it on the paper in front of me, that’s two. And then I write it, that’s three. This is kind of how I was raised in the game. You know, my notebook’s always open. When Mike T saying something in a meeting, I’m writing it writing it down. you know, when when Arthur’s saying something, I’m writing that down, you know, and when coach Arthur is saying something, you know, I’m writing that down. It’s just that’s just how I was raised in the game. Um, in terms of Darius Slay, he said when he was a young player, he started to gain confidence because of his interactions with you after the Green Bay Lions games. What do you remember about him then? What did you see in him? And what is it like being his teammate now? I mean, Darius has always been an elite player. uh he’s always had elite ball skills and always a guy you really had to be aware of where he was at. And you know, when you when you bring in veteran guys like this uh who are true professionals, uh you don’t have to worry about the standard being set. And we’ve, you know, brought in guys on offense, brought in even more guys on defense. And when you have those veteran guys who know what it’s like to play and play at a high level, they just set the standard for practice, set the standard for the meeting room, set the standard for the interactions, and makes my job as as a, you know, a wannabe team leader, you know, that much easier.

Missi Matthews sits down with Aaron Rodgers and talks his Latrobe Training Camp experience, becoming an expert in the Steelers offense, being teammates with Darius Slay and much more

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