Rodgers & Watt Postgame Press Conference (Week 7 at Cincinnati Bengals)

Rodgers & Watt Postgame Press Conference (Week 7 at Cincinnati Bengals)

DJ scored on several possessions that was out that game. What was going wrong for you guys tonight? Seemed like everything was absolutely unacceptable performance from us on the defensive side of the ball. What were they able to do to minimize for the most part the pass rush? I think they were getting the ball out pretty quick all night. Um good amount of max protection, but even even then it’s it seemed like the ball was coming out pretty quickly. couple big plays in the running game the second quarter that characteristic feel like looking at that uh just not playing gap sound football obviously we’ll have to look at the tape but um we felt like this the the run scheme we had for this game was going to be effective and um I think it’s going to come down to when we look at the film is just guys getting out of gap. What’s the mindset when you’re in a game where you’re not getting stops? So what are you thinking? What are you saying to yourselves on the sideline? uh trying to bow up. I mean, obviously you’ve been in that situation before. I mean, you’re not always it’s not always going to be your night. Um but you like to think that through all of the training and practice and everything that we’ve put in that when we need a stop the most, we should be able to get a stop and wasn’t able to tonight. Is that some of the stuff you’ve seen before from Flaco over the years as far as getting the ball out quickly? Yeah, we saw it we saw it last year in Indie. Um, I think it’s it’s something that, um, we knew he he was capable of. Obviously, when you play that long, um, you’re able to get through your reads quick and, um, need to be able to stop them. TJ’s defense as a whole, what makes Chase so tough to stop on those slants. Uh, I don’t know, man. I’m just trying to rush rush up front and stop the run and get after the quarterback. Is this a game where even though you’re you’re not satisfied with the effort, if you can get some turnovers, maybe you can still find a way out of the way? I We’ve pride ourselves on getting that splash and um I don’t think we had one last week. Um don’t have one this week. Uh if you’re not stopping the run and getting off the field and not creating turnovers, you’re in a whole world of hurt. I think they converted a few more like third and 10 plus tonight. That’s been an ongoing issue for this team. Is there anything that you can put your finger on right now? Just got to watch the film get better. I’m sure it’s a mix of a lot of things, but we need to solve it quick. Thursdays have been tough for you guys for a long. Is there anything that you kind of put your finger on? I think it’s tough for everybody to play this this quick of a schedule. But, uh, if they’re going through it, we should be able to figure it out as well. Anything else? Thanks, guys. Aaron, did you feel like you guys maybe got away from the run a little bit too quick in the first half there when you guys had? I don’t know about that. I mean, felt like we ran the ball really well. Um, you know, I think we had a good couple first drives and then I made a poor decision on drive. Kind of changed momentum a little bit. Um, but no, I don’t think I didn’t feel like we were mixing it up. there started to play a little more one high so we had some chances to take some shots down the field. Seemed like you had some time in the pocket that was pretty different than the way things have been going earlier in the season and you guys were able to connect on such scramble drills. Was that something you were maybe expecting or was that sort of a testament of the play? No, I mean they played a lot of a lot of uh you know two eye coverage um and we blocked it up pretty well. I felt uh good kind of moving in the pocket and out of the pocket and uh made some extended plays. Mike said patch time would be coming here soon, but he stepped up for you guys tonight. Were you looking for him especially um on that first touch? Uh well I mean on that one I’d actually told him on the sidelines, hey uh no I told him at halftime I said if we come back and I called this play um be ready because I saw something on the one of the cl one of the pictures on the sideline uh in the first half. So at halftime I pulled him aside and I didn’t think it’d be third and 18 from the 19th, but uh they clouded pretty hard to DK and Pat did a nice job down the middle and it was really the same play on the second touchdown. Aaron, on that first interception, was there any miscommunication with DK or just I you know I was trying to look off the safety and I I was just kind of throwing to a spot. Um I got to go back and look at it. Was the fleet flickering? Was there a miscommunication there or something? Yeah, it wasn’t supposed to be a flee flicker. Yeah, we were on the same page. Aaron, what do you think was working with the ground game and just about everything, you know? I think we’ve done a good job when uh Spence is on the field or really just Darnell. I mean, Darnell is such an important part of our offense and as you’ve seen us starting to take some steps offensively the last three weeks, it’s no surprise his snap count’s gone up. So, I’m really proud of Darnell. I’m proud of the other tight ends as well. I mean, we had four touchdown catches by tight ends. You know, Pat had two of them and John had a nice scramble drill and um you know, I was telling uh Darnell during the week on the play that he caught for a touchdown, I said, “I know you’re 6’8, but try and get lost on this play.” And he he did exactly what I was hoping he would do on that one. So, I’m really proud of those guys, especially Pat. You know, Pat’s uh Pat’s a great player and he hasn’t had a lot of looks. you know, his play time’s gone down, but his attitude hasn’t. And I think there’s a lot to be said for the professionalism that he showed, especially the last couple weeks. Aaron, how do you keep it from being a roller coaster? Like, try to keep it even after, you know, throughout the course of the season. Well, I think you got to realize, listen, we want to win every game. Uh there there needs to be an expectation of winning, but uh this is a short week, division opponent. Anything can happen. Uh obviously Joe played really well for them and uh and Chase and T got going for him. Um but this is the NFL. You know, we had a chance to really open up some space, but we’re 4-2. Still first in the division. Got a couple uh you know, home games coming up back to back. Another Sunday night opportunity against my former team. So um I’m not going to ride the roller coaster and I know Mike isn’t. And hopefully you guys follow suit. All right. Thanks, sir. Thank you.

T.J. Watt and Aaron Rodgers speak to the media about the Steelers matchup against the Cincinnati Bengals in Week 7 of the 2025 season.

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