Steelers-Jets REACTION: Did Aaron Rodgers PROVE everyone WRONG? | Colin Cowherd NFL

Steelers-Jets REACTION: Did Aaron Rodgers PROVE everyone WRONG? | Colin Cowherd NFL

Welcome to the official YouTube channel for the Colin Coward podcast. Go on, hit that subscribe button if you’re new so you don’t miss any of our great football content this season. All right, let’s talk Pittsburgh 34, Jets 32 in a wildly entertaining game. I This This was one of the best one:00 window games I’ve ever watched. I’m dead serious. It was freaking crazy. So, let’s talk about uh let’s talk about Pittsburgh’s win. Um I mean, it’s interesting with Aaron. He’s a statue. He got sacked four times. He got rocked late in the fourth. I mean, it was brutal. I didn’t know if he was going to get up, but I think his mindset with this team is, listen, I’m going to be the distributor. He’s going to be a little Chris Paul. He’s going to be tough. He’s occasionally going to make a great shot, but by and large, he’s going to distribute lead. And I thought from that vantage point, I mean again, old Chris Paul can’t defend like young Chris Paul, but there is something about guidance and leadership and distribution. I thought overall it was about considering his immobility, it was in his first game, and he’s not been great in openers. The last three openers I covered with the Jets and the points, but I will say I thought Aaron overall his mindset, he said this, I am here to elevate others. And I that I’m impressed with. Yeah. Especially with that defense, which if they were going to be good was gonna have to be a top five defense. They got shredded today. I mean, Justin Fields looked like he was at Ohio State again, didn’t he? That’s the best game he’s ever played. He He didn’t miss a throw. No. Didn’t miss a throw. Look calm in the pocket. Was running around like he was Lamar Jackson. He was excellent today. He was I’m going to tell you something. There’s a stat. He didn’t have a single offtarget throw. I I’m sitting there. I’m sitting there and I’m thinking I’ve always been I I’ve always said he’s a bounce around the league guy. You can’t build around him. It’s the first time I’ve ever watched him and went, “Oh you can build around Justin Fields.” Yeah. I don’t know what his numbers were, but if they had won the game, I would had no problem giving him player of the week. I mean, he was you could still give it to him. He he was fantastic. One thing we have to come to grips with Rogers because it’s easy to do this. Well, you got to give him that extra year after the Keely. It’s not the first year after the It’s too He’s He’s Jared Goff mobility wise. He he can’t move around. You watch Perie, Darnold, even some guys that average mobility, he’s not even close to them. So that’s a big problem for him. So some of those back shoulder, you know, or back foot throws, which he’s always done, don’t the zip’s not quite the same. Still got a good arm, but I thought some of those back foot throws that he had in Green Bay forever where he could throw 98 probably 91 92 now. So now he’s smart, he’s accurate with the ball. So he still, you know, some of those, you know, balls around the line of scrimmage, get it to his guys. DK let him run. But and listen, offensively, what did he account for? Four touchdowns today. He was not he was fine. But I I did watch this thinking like we have to kind of embrace last year like this is a new player now. The the Hall of Fame. I’m not saying he’s Manning and Brady just purely in the pocket, but he’s much closer to that than the guy that was Aaron Rodgers for 15 years. And to me, if they’re going to be good though, they have to be a top flight defense. I watching that game today, I know they pulled it off. They’re still playing the Jets, who probably going to end up winning six, seven games. They have no chance to be a good team if they And they only they only average 2.7 yards a carry. And this has been a problem. So Naji Harris is gone. This has been a problem for Pittsburgh for about six years. They have talented offensive linemen. They’ve used draft capital on their offensive line. I mean, the kid from West Virginia, the center, is going to be a Pro Bowler if not already. So, my take is this is sort of a Steeler dilemma. It’s not Arthur Smith’s issue. They whatever it is, they don’t run the ball. Well, there’s a way Aaron’s going to have to win. I mean, the Jets, let’s be honest, were picked for fourth. So, now they may be better than that, but they were picked for fourth. But for Aaron to work, he needs a running game. And and that was one of my issues is the Steelers just haven’t done that in forever. Well, I got to take the L on this. I like the Iowa kid. He clearly had a disastrous training camp. He had one carry today for negative two yards. And listen, he was a third round pick. Bree Hall, a second round pick. If you just watched Bree Hall today, you went that’s an NFL running back. Like that guy making guys miss, making explosive plays. You should be able to find guys on the second day of the draft, second or third, that immediately impact. Now, I understand been in the league for a couple years, but the Caleb Johnson thing has been a disaster so far and they depended on him because Jaylen Warren, he really is a rotational scapback throwing the ball a little bit, but he’s by far their best back. They can’t rely on this other guy. That’s right. Kenneth Gadewell was like a backend rotational guy for the Eagles. So, that they do have a starting running back issue. And so, like luckily they have some, you know, DK that Austin’s a pretty explosive player. Fman, they they have a lot of weapons in terms of like passing the ball, but the running game, like you said, if Caleb Johnson, let’s just say this year is a disaster for him. He’s not a bust or anything, but he’s just year one is is a negative. Yeah, that’s a problem. And I think they would have to start looking around. Listen, they’re all in on this season. Do you trade for a running back, a shitty? I think so. I watching the game, my take was before the trade deadline, Steelers are going to look around this league. There’s going to be a good running back and a bad team. and they’re going to give up a third or a fourth round pick. But watching this game, I’m like, listen, this Jets team is I mean, we thought they were a lottery team next year, a top six pick next year. We don’t know if Aaron Glenn’s can coach. I mean, Aaron Glenn on the defense was a mess. So, I think the Steelers, keep your eye on them making a move. And I don’t know who that running back’s going to be. I I I think Bruce Hall, I mean, he wants a new contract. Who knows what if the Jets are two and four, two and five, and just out of give him a third round pick. Get him. beyond Justin Fields and Bree Hall, the left side of the offensive line. I mean, that’s what they attacked. The left side of the Jets line was creating big crevices, big creases. So, whatever. And Elijah Vera Tucker got hurt. I thought, oh, the Jets line, what a bummer. He former USC guy gets banged up a lot. But they, some of those holes were substantial. So, and you know the thing about Justin Fields is that there are certain boxes, John, you’re a former scout. If I said there’s this guy, teammates love him, good size, really good arm, super athletic. I mean, there’s no reason he doesn’t look like this more often. I mean, we never know if a guy sees the field. Does he process stuff? I don’t know. We’re not there. But in terms of size, whip, move it, he also plays courageously. Like he will collide with people. In fact, almost to a fault, he doesn’t slide. He did once today smartly, he slid. But there’s when you he was 4-2 with the Steelers last year. If you extrapolated his numbers last year, you know, he was going to be like a 95 quarterback rating guy, which is a starter in the NFL. So, I think if you’re a Jets fan, you had to come out of this game feeling like, “Hey, man, this this Justin Fields, Bree Hall, uh Garrett Wilson, they found their left tackle, left side of the offensive line.” I’d be pretty optim I mean, Miami is cooked. So, I mean, and by the way, New England offensively looked timid, like they don’t trust Drake May. If I’m the Jets, I come out of this game and I’m like, “No, no, we can battle for a playoff spot.” That was my big takeaway on that division. We’ll we’ll watch Buffalo Baltimore tonight, but I mean New England, they don’t trust Rake May or they don’t have the juice. But Miami is done. Yeah, Miamiy’s got awful. I mean, he was already the first guy to get fired on all the betting markets. That thing’s a lock. I mean, that team was going to suck no matter what. I mean, people playing them in joint practices were like, “Hey, I’m not sure what’s going on over there.” When you ever hear that, they’re like, “What? What is this?” I I I do think really quick on fields, one thing we don’t talk about enough and and one when I was doing your show down in LA, I was talking with some of your guys when we were getting coffee. They’re like, “What’s something that if you could do it over again, you would have done differently?” And I said, “The one thing I’ve learned, and I think this carries over to, you know, in our business, work with a bunch of different people is the power of character.” And when you are the a quarterback, I mean, all the best quarterbacks in the NFL, their charact their character is pretty elite. I mean, when you when you look at this group of guys, Fields got replaced in Chicago and then the situation last year in Pittsburgh handled himself, I mean, incredibly well. I mean, Russ Russell this started leaking stuff immediately when the season ended about Arthur Smith and pointing the finger. I’ve never heard a peep from Justin Fields or his people. Never heard a peep. And you just watch the way the guys carry him. Everyone has ever had high things or good things to say about him. Even when Ryan Ples traded him, he’s like, you know, I felt like I owed him something just what a good guy he is. I’ve been blown away. I didn’t think he was a good enough passer and today whatever they’re doing just calmed him down a little bit because he’s already always had the arm. I I think sometimes touch a lot of people thought like when he got in the pocket he would get he just struggled to fluidly read defenses in terms of like would just it happens to a lot of guys. Sam that was a knock on Sam Darnold. Sometimes you get to a place where people believe in you and you can just play instead of think, you know, and I I saw a guy today that was just kind of playing and it looked very fluid a lot like he did in college cuz his athletic and just physical tools are pretty elite. He had the best physical tools of the group. Like Trevor Lawrence went number one. He had better physical tools than Trevor Lawrence. Listen, of the six boxes you check, size, movement, quality guy, um, arm, four of them, he’s like an A. So, I mean, to me, there he and and I always said this, Baker and Sam Darnold, they check too many boxes to be busts. Justin Fields arguably checks more. So, I was really happy for him today. He was fun to watch. [Music]

Colin Cowherd is joined by ‘3 & Out’ host John Middlekauff to react to Week 1 in the NFL. Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Aaron Rodgers got revenge vs. the New York Jets as he won his Steelers debut. Colin and John debate the future of Rodgers and whether everyone was wrong about the future Hall of Famer.

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