“There Is Something Special Here” – Aaron Rodgers Is Loving Being The Steelers QB | Pat McAfee Show

“There Is Something Special Here” – Aaron Rodgers Is Loving Being The Steelers QB | Pat McAfee Show

Ladies and gentlemen, [Applause] four time NFL MVP, Super Bowl champion, the starting quarterback for the Pittsburgh Steelers, Aaron Rogers. [Applause] Wow. Yeah. Hey. Hey. [Applause] Helmet. They’re yelling. Y. Don’t roll your ankle on helmet. Go for Daddy Rogers. Mr. Rogers here. Uh, we told you and you know this because of how many Pittsburgh people you’ve been around and your respect and appreciation for the sport and the league as a whole. You knew Pittsburgh was a football town. Always have. now you get a chance to be the Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback. Has that been a cool thing for you? Like legitimately, has that been a cool moment? I’ve seen the pictures. They’re posting you in a Pittsburgh Steelers uniform. And as a kid that grew up here, that’s like a really cool thing for us to see. I’m wondering on your side of it being a Pittsburgh Steeler. Well, I mean, Pittsburgh is one of the cornerstone franchises in the NFL cuz everybody knows who they are. There’s only a few of them, but it’s just different here. There’s a level of expectation based on the excellence that’s happened here where you kind of come in and you expect to fall on the line to embody what it means to be a Steeler. And I I really appreciate that cuz I’ve been in Green Bay for 18 years and it’s the same thing there. Yeah, cuz Green Bay and that’s literally what Tai said. Ty said if I look from the NFC over to the AFC, I would say the Green Bay Packers of the AFC is the Pittsburgh Steelers. Just story franchise to get season tickets here. It’s like a 30-year waiting period just like it is at Green Bay. Away games, you’ll see terrible towels in every stadium. It’s a And now they’re attacking your previous employer, which I certainly love. These people, I told you this whenever you signed here. I said, “Hey, you win a Super Bowl for the city of Pittsburgh. They will murder people and bury the bodies for you.” Yes. You tell me where, brother, but they’ll do it anyways. Now, they’re already chanting your name. You’ve been here for 2 weeks. Uh, how has it been with the fans and the insers and experiencing life here at training camp at St. Vincent? I love the I love the inzers. I’ve been around them my entire career. You guys know Big Mike was on the show. Uh, there’s just something special about the people from this area. You know, there’s there’s something in the water maybe, but rust, but uh, steel. Yeah. Oh, they just they’re built maybe. Yeah. They’re built a little differently. Yeah. And they love their Steelers. They love you already, man. and they will love you forever if you go do what you’re going to do for them here in a couple weeks. Go ahead, Tone. Yeah, you’ve been here for a few weeks. You I mean, you had you had a little bit of time back in the OTAAS or mini camp or whatever and then now you’ve been here for two weeks. I feel like you kind of knew what DK was working out with him. Some of the boys went out to California. Has anyone uh surprised you so far in camp that you’ve been thrown to? No. I mean, I think the the coolest thing is just what is going on? My hand out like this, literally like this. And a guy threw a marker, landed right in my hand. He’s got touch like Aaron Rogers. This guy right here has got touch like he’s a great throw. Hopefully he thought he got that. I mean, this place is crazy. It’s crazy. Like it’s hot as hell out here. These folks show up every single day. Yesterday they were rolling down this hill cuz it was raining like crazy. But there’s just something special about this place. You can feel it. I, you know, I love being here in Latro. We did 14 years at St. in Norberts in Green Bay and then kind of went away from that. But there’s something special about the camaraderie that actually gets to happen. I think every coach talks about, you know, training camp is when you come together and you you know, you build that team chemistry, but honestly, when at places that don’t go away, when 7:00 hits or 6:30 or whatever the time is, guys go home. Now here, guys go into Head’s room. Cam, he’s got a huge head. uh they go in his room and hang out. You know, last night we were in Highmith’s room hanging out. Guys come in my room and talk ball. So, there’s actually real camaraderie that happens at a place like the Trobe. So, I give a lot of credit to to Mr. Rooney cuz there’s a lot of buildings with his name on it around here. Um he’s on the board here actually for putting the money out for putting the money into it. But but the opportunity that we have here to spend time together and actually come together is pretty cool. and also with Mike’s schedule practice in the midday. I know we got some issues with the uh with the weather. But uh but I enjoy the opportunities to uh to truly develop that uh training camp callus. Training camp’s been here since 1966. You they’re saying bring us seven, which was one of the answers that you actually gave. uh whenever your first press conference happened, you were getting rapid fire questions and uh I believe the way it was phrased was if you were to win another Super Bowl, what do you think it would be for your legacy and you said, “Well, it would be seven for the city of Pittsburgh, I think, is what we’re trying to do here.” Is that the mentality of the entire locker room? When you were talking to Tomlin throughout the entire process of whether or not you’re going to play again or if you’re going to play for the Pittsburgh Steelers, you’re kind of in the process of that. You talk to him on a regular basis. Was it like, “Hey, this city of Pittsburgh needs another one. We need another one.” What is those conversations like and what is the expectations? Yeah, they like 10 more if you could next 10 years. I mean, everybody’s everybody is zero and zero right now. There’s 32 teams that feel like they can win a championship, but you guys know covering the game. There’s only a handful of teams. I always say like 6 to 8, but it’s really like 8 to 12 cuz there’s some of those teams like the Reds, sorry, the Commanders last year. Oh my god. This son of a [ __ ] I just said I was just I saw the sign. That’s what got me. I was just talking to Ty about the San Diego Chargers playing. Uh you know when you’re old as old as I am, you played in so many different stadiums and against different team names. We you know we beat the St. Louis Rams. Y uh that team doesn’t exist anymore. But but there’s there’s a history of excellence that exists in only a few places around the league and thankfully I’m here in one of them. T AJ, they love it already. Hey, Arthur Smith, what did you know about him coming in? Did you have a relationship at all before? Obviously, your offensive coordinator here and what’s it been like the first seven 10 days with him? I love Art. We we uh started talking, you guys love Art. He’s on the show a lot. He’s got a great mustache. Great mustache. Salt of the earth. Um but I I met him a couple years ago and and we had a friendship and and would send messages back and forth. But once the the opportunity started to become a possibility, we talked more and he’s just a great dude, you know. He’s he’s very uh he’s the opposite of rigid. You know, he wants to to do right by the team and whatever the best scheme is for the guys that he’s got, he’s going to implement that. So whether it’s me at quarterback or bringing a guy like Jonno who’s had in the past and finding ways to get him involved, obviously DK being our number one, making sure he’s involved in the progression, we’re moving him around uh to give him different looks. And then we got a bunch of little guys who were trying to figure out who’s going to kind of step up and be that the second receiver, who’s going to be a third, who’s going to be the fourth. But guys like Calvin Austin, Roman Wilson, Scotty Miller, you know, guys that you can move around. Obviously, I’m talking about receivers right now. Yeah, we got a lot of tight ends. We got four four great tight ends. We can actually do 04 personnel, which is which which, you know, is four tight ends on the field. When you can put Janu and Darnell and Pat and Connor on the field, it’s pretty pretty special. So, so he’s great at uh kind of using the skills that each guys had have and and implementing them in the offense. But, um he’s a great dude. You know, he had a a tragedy that happened this off season with his dad passing away. It meant a lot to him. But, um but he’s been great. He’s great in front of the room when he’s installing plays and he’s dog. Hell yeah. They weren’t doing this with the previous offense coordinator. I will let you know that. No, there were chance. There were chance. Yeah, they’ll come back around potentially. Uh, I saw you throw a pick to Patrick Queen and I saw everybody say that you lost it. How much do you love people thinking that you lost it? How much do you love that? How much How much do you love people thinking that you lost it? Legitimately, how much do you love that? Oh, I don’t give a [ __ ] about that. Yeah. Yeah, I bet. I bet. It’s been uh awesome to watch you spin it again, brother. Legit. Go ahead, D. Speaking of spinning it, how does the We’re about a week into camp. How does the body feel? How does the mind feel going into this season right now? Body feels great, DB. We just got two days off. That never happens. We had a day off and then we had a rain out yesterday, so I feel great. You know, today’s going to be a monster. What? Today’s going to be a monster. First day off and it’s this hot out here. Practice. You think? It’s going to be a gruden grinder today out there for sure. What should we be looking for today in practice? We’ll be down there. So, uh, we start every practice with what they call seven shots. It’s seven plays, fourth and two from the two. And that play, that period is live as is team run. I haven’t been around a lot of tackling in training camp in my career really ever. Maybe with big Mike early on Pittsburgh tough, you know. Yes. Uh hell yeah. Maybe a couple times. But but those two periods will be real real fun to watch. And that’s how practice starts. We start with seven seven shots. Yeah. Oh my god. That’s a good way to start a little bit of physicality. Just pound it. A little pound to ground it, Connor. Yeah. I hope you’re still, you know, caught up on all the conspiracies going on right now cuz there are some gems out there. But you talked a lot about the offense. What about that old line? We talked to Alan. That’s a Jesse James. Sure. Oh yeah. Again. Hey, Steelers fans don’t. Aaron wasn’t here. He doesn’t give a [ __ ] about that. But you think about when you think about I do. I do. Of course. 2017, man. What a year. Uh when you think about that old line, very young, kind of similar to the Jets, but AQ said, you know, just yesterday, of course, new color broadcaster for the Cardinals. Uh he said just yesterday, Steelers he expects to take a massive step up. How has that been kind of working with the young O line, you know, sweet West Virginia boy, Zack Frasier, hopefully he has a towel for you today with all that swast that’s probably going on. No, he’s actually a light sweater, so we’re good on that. We’re good on that. Is he getting the ball up to you yet? Yeah, at least back there it’s light, you know. It starts and ends with that kid, though. I mean, he’s got a he’s got a chance to be really special in the league. You know, a lot of the great centers I’ve had were also wrestlers and uh and he he was a great wrestler in high school. Um but he’s super smart. He’s a mountaineer. Yeah, he’s back. He’s a little too smug for my liking, though. He’s out there making calls for me right now. Tell me if I got the wrong check. So, I got to I got to get his ass in line a little bit. Let him know who’s in charge. But no, seriously, Zach’s done a great job. Starts and ends with him. 13 time. 13th time. 13 what? 13th time. 13th time. What? You know, they don’t know what the hell they’re talking. What are they talking about? You know, but I I like uh I like the battles that we got going on right now and the depth that we have. Um those guys, you know, we’ll be in work in progress as we go. We haven’t even put the pads on yet, but I think eventually today we’re all taking side bets on who the first fight’s going to be. And uh if I’m a betting man, I’m saying that either Zack Fraser or Mason McCormick will be involved in the first fight. Okay, they go everywhere together. Mason McCormick and Zack Frasier both heard that and they’re also like, “Okay, now Aaron’s expecting us to throw some hands right and do that.” And we all feel that way. We all feel that way. It is awesome. Over the last few years, us covering training camp. remember a few years back uh I think Aaron Donald took a helmet at somebody and they were calling for like uh lawsuits and like cops to show up and then fights are happening. It’s like hey fights are exhausting for players during training camp but also it shows how together your team is, how tough your team is, what they stand on. I think it’s a big deal. Now I don’t think Tomman is promoting fights but if you have no fights I think that’s a problem. He’s definitely not promoting fights. You know that’s one of the rules. No fighting but if something starts whip his ass. Yeah, get it on, baby. That’s everybody. I think every good coach uh views it that way. Big Mike did. You said working, you know, Big Mike loved love. No, he didn’t promote it. He was never in a bad mood after No, he was not. I legitimately think if your team doesn’t fight, you should be worried. I I always knew if we fought in practice that night, that was back when we had two days, Mike would be texting me after practice say, “Hey, come on over and have a couple IC’s. Couple Iron Cities Iron Cities.” I’ll tell you what, the iron city mangoes. There it is. That’s the nectar of the gods. That is they pull it from the rivers of dead bodies here. Obviously, you got the Alany, the Manong Hala. They come together for the Ohio. Okay, that is the point downtown. Three rivers and they would get water out of there. Put some booze in it and that’s the nectar that is I see light. Every kid drank it as a teenager here in Pittsburgh. It is the nectar of the gods. Nectar the gods. You should have a couple. You said work in progress. How much do you know the offense? Did you show up knowing the offense? Cuz there was a report that Arthur Smith was quietly making an entire playbook for you and yada yada yada. You’re obviously an incredibly I haven’t seen that playbook yet. Okay, good. You you’re obviously an incredibly intelligent person, celebrity Jeopardy champion. If you had to, you’d win against actual Jeopardy people. I’m on your side for that. Had a 500page report in 2020. People don’t remember that. They remember everything else. But, uh, how do you feel about how comfortable you are in the offense? And I’m Yeah, I’m getting more comfortable as the days go on there. There’s not a there’s not a my own playbook and Arthur, it’s Arthur’s playbook now. I’m finding, you know, ways within it to to add, you know, little stuff here and there, but it’s Arthur’s playbook. And I like it. I like it a lot. Um, but we like going on over here. I mean, these are Yanza’s brother trying to catch the best. This is how it’s going to go. They have their own agenda. This is how it’s going to go. Here we go. Stealers. Here we go. We go on air. Turn the ball. Here we go. And a guy named Ory. Here we go. Boys were making kicks like he does. And we’re looking for seven in the [ __ ] house. Here we go. There it is. Banger. Absolute banger. Do you know Renegade yet? Did you learn Renegade on guitar yet? There’s a mic on his face. Aaron, last question. Everybody can hear what you’re saying. There’s a mic on AJ’s face. Uh Ty has a question for you. Aaron, we talked about this a little bit off stage and through the last several years you’ve been on the show, you’ve talked about how much respect you have for Mike T. How has that relationship been? So far, is there anything that’s been, you know, like maybe kind of surprised you now that he’s your head coach and he’s just not a guy you you respect from afar? Where’s my camera at? Uh, could be any of them. Here’s the jib. They’re doing a sweet artsy jib shot on you. Zoom in on Yeah. Just do a two shot. Me and age. Okay. Okay. Never mind. Mike T is the man. Any hate, disrespect, and ilk is complete and utter [ __ ] Hell yeah. Mike T is the man. I from day one that we talked on the phone in the offse. I was never talking to a head coach. I was talking to a friend. I respected the hell out of that. I have uh crazy respect for him. The way that he leads the room, the way that he he talks in the team meeting, the way he is at practice. Uh the surprise has been just what a great dude he is, what a great leader he is. on top of what I already expected, which was already high based on what I thought from afar. But being able to see it in person is is incredible. Um, he’s the type of guy that every great coach makes you want to play for. And what I mean to expand on that is you care so deeply about the person. You don’t want to let him down. And that’s that’s the aura and that’s the respect that Mike has from his players that you do you want to play for this guy because you know how much he cares and you don’t want to let him down. You’ve been on a championship team before. You’ve had a lot of great great great great teams that you’ve been on. Yeah, we beat the Steelers. Wow. Hell yeah. Wow. Should have already had seven. You could say Oh man, that was a different day. Different day. It’s a new day. It’s a new day. It’s a new day. That’s cuz AJ was using steroids. Nick AJ was drinking his piss. Yes, we know. Okay, you confirm that. I said that to the SP. Look at this guy. You think he hasn’t drank his pee in the last 5 years? All the stuff he’s been into. Chew and bark. Drinking piss. Chewing bark. Hey, great answer the other day, by the way. That was that guy would drink your piss, he said. That’s what I’m talking about, though. That’s what Prince would do for you, Eric. You need to know that. Um, we appreciate you so much for stopping by. Can’t wait to watch Come on. Give him a drum test this morning. How’s the fist? Get him up here. Aaron, I can’t wait to watch you work out there. I can’t wait to watch the season for you. I can’t wait uh to watch you experience a year with theers. And uh will you be joining us on Tuesdays or No. Did they tell you you can’t? We’ll see. Yeah, we’ll see. I You talk to Bert over there. Uhoh. I appreciate you guys. Good to see you all as usual. Good to see you in person. Have fun in Canton. San Diego Chargers. That’s right. Yes. But uh it’s going to be a fun year. It’s going to be a really fun year. I’m just really, if I can sum up my feelings being in Pittsburgh is just gratitude to be in such a special organization with Mike T, the leadership of the football team, and to play for a fan base that cares as much as these guys do. Hell yeah. We’re lucky to have you here in Pittsburgh. I speak for the city at this moment, but not always. You’re the man. I love your claim in Pittsburgh. Now you claim Indie when you’re back in Indie. I’m like the rock, baby. I got two homes. You should see me down in Morgantown, too. I [ __ ] love that place. What money do you got? Got homes all over the place. All right. Thanks, guys. Uh, you’re the man. Ladies and gentlemen, four-time NFL MVP, the starting quarterback of the Steelers. [Applause] What’ you put on there? Yeah, you draw a dick. You signed an AJ Hawk. Did you sign it? You did a spaceship. No, you didn’t do a spaceship. He just he just wrote in there what his status is still to this point, you know. Just wrote in what his status is. It’s a long word. I’m not talking Facebook. I got you. Oh, nice. He subbed an X in there. Just dropped an X. Oh, yeah. None of that. It’s a 101 and it’s [Music]

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