Aaron Rodgers Media Availability (Oct. 29) | Pittsburgh Steelers

Aaron Rodgers Media Availability (Oct. 29) | Pittsburgh Steelers

What do you expect to see? Whatever they feel like is the best uh personnel grouping against our big personnel. Mike talked a lot about the frustrations of having to settle for field goals and not touch those first half drives. What has to happen to finish those drives out? We had a couple penalties and we had uh and I get back on track. We didn’t uh you know get half back on some of those. We had you know we had third we had five I think third and third pluses and the four of the other ones were eight to 10. So that’s hard to convert. Are there things that Roman you can trust trust him a bit more finishing routes in anticipating where he’s going to be? Like I told Roman, you know, I thought he was going to have a good week to start the week. I told him last Wednesday said, “It’s going to be your week this week.” Just kind of had a feeling. Um, and then Thursday he had his best practice of the season. So, and even in that, there were still three or four real coachable moments. So, you know, I told Ro, you know, I’ve liked him since the first time we got to know each other out in Malibu. And I told him back then, I’m going to coach you to your potential, not uh to what I’m seeing. So, I’m going to hold him to a high standard. And uh I was really proud of him. in the game for the couple reaction plays that he made and we just need to see consistency from him but starts in practice and I thought Thursday was a really good practice for him and today he had another nice practice. This can’t be following up forecast you but your point that you made post game about wanting to do better in the higher red area. Um as you looked at it this week this is more an ex an execution based problem or you looking to expand the playbook there. What do you think might help? Execution for sure. I mean, we hurt ourselves with uh with penalties. We had opportunities um to put ourselves in better situations and it’s just execution. Hart’s done a great job calling plays. Uh we had a couple busts. We had a couple uh opportunities we didn’t come up with. I missed the throw. Um we can’t expect Bos to bail us out like that every single week. You have any vibes this week on who might be the standout guy? Not yet. Is there is there a way to rally the troops in your mind? I don’t know if we need to do that. I think it’s you got to stay the course. Um, you know, we lost a tough one in Cincy on the short week and we played a good football team and had many chances to, you know, to get things going. We’re up 16-7 at half. Our defense playing well. Offensively, we’ve done a good job, I think, ending some halves with points, but we haven’t uh not sure we scored on the first possession of the second half. And when you’re deferring and you’re expecting to have a chance to to double up, so to speak, uh that’s what changes the game. Middle eight of the game. We haven’t played well in the second four. In the right situations, would you like to go for it a little bit more? I mean, I think you’re seeing some trends around the league of of teams going for it, but uh we got a kicker who was pretty automatic from uh anywhere going back uh even beyond 60. in the field thankfully was in slightly better shape than the previous week. So, uh, Bos was amazing. Um, but, uh, you know, we got to be ready to go for those and convert them if uh, if we get a chance. Do you have any concerns about the field condition this coming week knowing that you guys play? Pit played last week. Is Pit playing again? No. Okay. So, well, good luck to Pit beating those guys for sure. Come on, Panthers. Let’s go. You know, uh I talk to some of those guys just about every week. I always tease them. I know they’re not playing Cal this year, but I always say, “You guys playing Cal?” And they said, “Nah, no. We got, you know, NC State OS. You’re lucky. Lucky it’s not Cal this week.” But they’re playing those guys. Uh come on, Pit. Let’s get it done this week. Um uh but the field, it is what it is. talked the other day about uh Mike talked about yesterday about sort of you guys not handling the adversity in the second half, you know, after the nonoffside call, whatever. You talked about not riding the roller coaster week to week, but what’s the challenge in making sure you don’t ride it during the game in terms of navigating the emotions offense? Yeah, I mean, we can’t control when they jump off sides whether they throw the flag or not. We would like the correct call to be made for sure. Um, but we still had a chance on that play. uh coming down with a catch, it would have got the drive going. Um obviously we like that call, but they they went down and we had them backed up on a third down. They made a play. I thought we responded pretty well in the next drive. We just didn’t uh get seven there to really take it back to two scores. We got three and then they went down and scored again. So we got to help our defense out and uh when we get it to two scores, I can play more onedimensionally. Um and that’s what we got to Have there been any conversations with like the veters like you, Cam, Jaylen Ramsey about responding better those moments. Jaylen talked about you can’t complain about the calls after the Bengals game saying we got to respond better to adversity after this game just you know the the personal foul penalties committed. There been a talk about the leaders like hey we got to get this across the board with our team. Yeah, I’m not going to talk about any any of those conversations with Jaylen Warren since it’s training. Is there an example that you could give us to kind of explain your your surprise or your wonderment at home? No, no surprise. I mean, I saw him play last year and I’ve always been a fan of his uh as a change up back and I always wondered what it would be like if he got a chance to be the guy. When I saw Nas got got traded, I figured he’d get a chance. Uh, and then when I got here, just the the way he’s so dynamic with the football, uh, he’s hilarious out there on the field because, uh, he’s such a sweet guy and, uh, you know, just some of the things he’s thinking about from time to time is amazing. He’s just always so positive out there. But I love being in the auto and and being out there in the gun next to him. Um, and they’re just kind of watching them go. you know, there’s there’s been throws I’ve made this year that in the past I wouldn’t make because, you know, maybe there’s a guy out there, maybe there’s a couple guys out there, but I just feel like, you know, when he’s got the ball in his hands, the first guy never down. And, you know, we had a play the other night, faked the pitch to him, came back, had some deeper routes, and I threw out in the flat, and if you pause the film, there’s like three guys in the way, and he makes all three miss, and then runs over the safety for a 12- yard gain, and just comes back to the huddle like, normal. That’s nothing nothing crazy happened. That’s what I love about him. There’s expectation when he gets the ball that something great’s going to happen and uh his energy like that he’s very infectious for offense. Aaron, when you were talking about Roman, you uh what constitutes having a good practice? Is it having opportunities to have a good practice? No, I don’t I think that’s a misnomer because every play is watched from practice. So, it’s the attention to detail on the routes. Um I think that’s that’s sometimes lost. You might even in a game situation, you might get so enamored with what a guy’s doing who’s around the ball getting the target. But a lot of times things that happen in the succeeding weeks are because of things you’ve seen on film on the backside of plays where a guy’s not getting the ball and you see the detail and the craft and the routes. um the other day, you know, he got the ball on Thursday in a number of plays and and that was positive, but you know, there were some other routes on the backside we didn’t get the ball where you started to see some of the craft to show up, some of the detail in the routes that gives you confidence that uh you can trust him. Uh and so that’s what it is. Also, there were some correctable things. So, uh but I really like his attitude. You know, I think of all the guys, you know, who we expected to make an impact starting the season, you know, especially him and Pat, to not get off to the most explosive starts, but to never once have a negative uh day energy-wise, attitude-wise, is a credit to both of those guys. I’m really proud of both of them. Why do you like developing wide receivers? Why do you like maybe investing time in teaching some of the younger guys and helping them grow? And this is part of part of leadership. Um, also I don’t want to throw to a guy that I haven’t seen him consistently make the plays that I’m expecting him to make. And there’s a lot of conversations going on. There’s position coach, there’s offense coordinator, but in the end, it’s the conversations that him and I have that are most important because he needs to see the game through my eyes. And uh, if I can make an impact on him and Calvin and some of the young guys, that’s uh, that’s pretty special as I as I move on. Marquez, two more. Marquez Valdes scantling had a workout here recently. Uh, have you done any recruiting of him or lobbying for him either now or before the season when he was available? I love NBS. I’ve always enjoyed playing with him. He’s one of my favorite teammates of all time. Uh, he is a really special guy and I think NBS can still really play. You saw last year when he was in New Orleans, he had opportunities. He had a lot of big touchdowns. He can still run. I think NBS wants to be on an active roster. So, if there wasn’t an opportunity here for that, then I guess he’s waiting for something else. But I I don’t fault him. I love MBS and whether he’s here or somewhere else, I’m always pulling for him. It feels like there are different playmakers stepping up. I mean, you have Spencer Anderson now catching a pass last week. What do you like about how diverse this offense is becoming in terms of your weapons? Yeah, Spence is definitely a weapon uh in the run game and the pass game, but you know, we we got to we got to have different people based on the the coverages that we see and and you’re seeing a lot of uh heavy coverage to DK, of course. I mean, DK is a stud and and obviously he’s going to demand uh you know, at least a couple guys over there. Um, and when that’s the case, you know, other guys have got opportunities, whether it’s, you know, big Darnell or obviously Pat against Cincinnati and Roman had night nice plays. And you know, it’s great having Calvin back cuz he is such a dynamic force with the ball and got to find more ways to get him the football,

Aaron Rodgers spoke to the media on Wednesday, Oct. 29 ahead of the Steelers Week 9 game against the Indianapolis Colts

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