Aaron Rodgers Media Availability (Dec. 11) | Pittsburgh Steelers

Aaron Rodgers Media Availability (Dec. 11) | Pittsburgh Steelers

You had said back in August you wanted one more shot at it. Games like Sundays and what you’re going to play the rest of the way. Is that kind of the whole point of it? Yeah, I mean it been a couple years since I played in, you know, meaningful games in December. So that’s why we play. Obviously you play to win championships, but you got to be in position and playing the right way late in the season. So it’s good to be a part of a big time game last Sunday and the rest of these will all be the same. Thomas said you relish this. Does that manifest in any way that it wouldn’t maybe you know an October game? No, I mean they’re all important. They all count the same. I mean two-point win at at the Jets week one looks pretty good and I think I said that after the game. Um you know win against New England the way they’re playing. They haven’t lost I don’t think since we beat them. So um those are important games that uh that help you out come December. Aaron, what did you see from your teammates as far as stepping up to the moment on Sunday in I just felt like we played our game. You know, we were aggressive early on. We hit some shots. DK had a, you know, some splash plays. Obviously, when he’s making plays like that, we’re a better football team. Um, getting him involved in the first play wasn’t exactly the play call, but I kind of felt when he told me he was thinking about that play Saturday night that I was hoping for a certain coverage so I could give him a shot in the first play of the game to get us going. and they gave us the coverage I was hoping for and DK ran a great route and I put the ball in a good spot. You’ve talked a lot about you’ve talked a lot about Pittsburgh in large part because of Mike Tutland. What did you see or what did you learn about him and the way that he kind of responded and handled the locker the last two weeks especially? No, he’s been the same. You know, he’s he hasn’t changed at all. um you know his meetings are for anybody like myself or Adam coming in or Marquez you know it’s it’s pretty eye opening him Wednesday, Thursday and Friday get in front of the team and talking for you know 30 plus minutes every single day and and the way that he leads without any notes and uh his preparedness every single week and the way he uh you know keeps a tight uh a tight grasp of the the pulse of the team and the energy of the team uh makes my job a lot easier. Is it rare to have a coach like him be as steady and as kind of same even keel every single day no matter what’s going on on the outside? It’s not surprising. I mean, he’s been here for how many years? 18 or 19 years. Never had a losing season. There’s got to be something to it. Uh, you know, I think every team is looking for that special sauce of a coach who can lead and be consistent and and uh, you know, be involved, understand how to delegate, lead when it needs to be done, and uh, that you don’t have to fill every space with words. I think that’s one of his greatest gifts as a head coach is that uh, in my time here, a short time obviously, but I don’t feel like he’s ever tried to fill a space with unnecessary words. And that might see seem like a small thing. Uh but it’s actually, you know, a very meaningful thing that there’s just sometimes the more words that are said, the more opportunities for panic or freak out that can happen. Um and he’s very concise and to the point with the objectives each week with the opponent that we’re playing and with the expectations uh for us as a football team. So I think everybody uh you know, I have a unique perspective and guys who played elsewhere have a unique perspective coming in here. Um, but the guys that are here should understand how special uh it is to have a guy like that leading the team. Can you put into the details? You’re next with the passing game. You talked about, you know, guys getting off their routes, you know, running doing a lot of the specifics, right? What did Adam and Mish get do that really helped you guys in that aspect? How many kind of details were they able to knock out that refined a lot of the concept you guys got? Well, I kind of said that after the game, like you can’t be fooled by the the stat lines for either of those two guys because just their presence out there and them being in the right spot every single time makes a big difference as far as spacing goes allows for the timing of plays um to kind of flow and rhythm. And you know, we had uh a lot of good things go our way in the passing game, but no sacks obviously has a lot to do with the offensive line, but but another part of the sacks is, you know, everybody on the same page. you know, I don’t feel like we had many plays where, you know, 10 guys, nine guys doing it right and one or two guys are not doing it right. And um, you know, you got to give credit to those guys for the way they prepared. They’re pros. They’ve been played a lot of a lot of football at a high level. So, I wasn’t surprised, but definitely helps with the passing game when when everybody’s in the right spot every single time. Aaron, a lot of people downplay the the whole never having a losing season for Tom. From your perspective, how difficult is it to never have a losing season? And how difficult is it to get beyond the first round of the playoffs? I mean, from somebody who has that experience. Yeah, it’s really impressive. I mean, we had a run 2009 to 2016 where we didn’t miss the playoffs in Green Bay and won the division number of times during that stretch. And, you know, it creates an expectation of winning and the winning gets ingrained in the culture and I think there’s a lot to be said for that. Um, it’s not overt. It’s just kind of the uh the foundational part of the locker room and the team is an expectation of winning. And when you’re a part of organization like that um which I was in Green Bay and then didn’t have it in New York, uh it makes a big difference. Um teams that don’t have that ingrained in it, there’s always the opportunity to do it. It just takes the right people and the right timing and the right coaching to kind of put it together and you learn how to win. when you’ve been to a place that has a history of excellence like Green Bay with the 60s on, like Pittsburgh with the 70s on, um, it’s just kind of understood when you walk in the door that uh, that winning is the most important thing. And like the great Vince Lombardi said it’s the only thing that really matters. So, did you feel that when you were six and six, did you feel the difference in maybe a team that could panic versus a team that could say, “Okay, this is this is what we have to do right now.” I mean, I knew it during Latro. I knew that this team was built for the long haul. And um different seasons play out in their own ways, but um you know, Baltimore started uh one and five, I believe, and then won five out of six to get back in it. And we’ve kind of been up and down, and Cincinnati’s deal with some injuries, and Cleveland has dealt with some, you know, their own their own stuff, too. So, we we knew it might not take 13 or 14 wins to win the division this year, but um it’s, you know, like I said, it’s nice to be playing meaningful football in December. mentioned those different you mentioned those different types of organizations that you’ve been in. What does it do for a locker room when you’re in an organization that values stability the way the Steelers do that there aren’t necessarily knee-jerk reactions or coaching changes during the season that hasn’t been a part of the organization’s history? No, with all due respect, I don’t I don’t think there’s a lot of uh importance put into the outside narratives here, which I think means a lot. And that’s how it felt in Green Bay. you know, there wasn’t guys worried about what Twitter was saying or what, you know, the news was saying about certain people. You know, there was various times where I felt like I needed to say something like run the table or relax, but those are individual periods, but at the core, we never doubted that we were going to be in the mix in December. Um, and here I think it’s the same thing. I don’t think guys are uh too worried about uh getting in Twitter fights or, you know, arguing about uh some of the outside narratives. And that’s a credit to the organizational structure as a whole from Mr. Rooney on down. But putting the right people in place and I think as you see in the league, it’s a very knee-jerk reaction league where if you’re not winning, you’re out. And they’ve won here for a long time. There’s been some eight and eight seasons as well, but there wasn’t any doesn’t seem like it from afar. There wasn’t any like we got to make wholesale changes. I’m a firm believer if you if you choose the right people to lead and you have the right process, you don’t have to make changes. you just deal with the ups and downs and don’t make crazy reactions in the moment that you feel like are going to, you know, make things better because for the most part it leads to rebuilding or uh dysfunction that that kind of can break some of the foundational characteristics of winning organizations like the Steelers are. Should we expect to see more of the belt celebration? How it feel to pull that out on Sunday? I haven’t scored a rushing touchdown in a while. I leave that only for rushing touchdowns or touchdowns in the playoffs when I’m nursing a calf injury. Other than that, that’s the only time you’ll see it. Two more, guys. Two more. Aaron, Mike Tomlin telling us that TJ is currently in the hospital with a lung issue. Just how concerning is that when you hear that about your teammates? Uh, I haven’t talked to TJ, but um I would uh never bet against anybody in the Watt family of being able to deal with something small or large and getting back on the field as quickly as possible. Last one. Jeff, what’s want to get your reaction to Philip Rivers and him returning to the league? I’m not the oldest guy in the league. Love that. Um, it’s pretty incredible though because he’s been out for I believe four full seasons plus this part of this season. Um, I was laughing because a couple of my buddies hit me up asking what I would do in that situation and I said without missing a beat, uh, I’m retired. I’m staying retired. So, uh, big credit to to Phil. you know, I’ve been a fan of his forever. I’ve known him a little bit over the years. Um, I’ve just love the way that he competes and plays. Again, not the most gifted player, but cerebral as I’ll get out. Hilarious trash talker and uh I wish him nothing but the best. Um, I’ve been a fan of his for a while and I hope uh he goes out and it’s just like riding a bike and he can jump right back in the saddle and I

Aaron Rodgers spoke to the media on Thursday, Dec. 11 ahead of the Steelers Week 15 game against the Dolphins

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