Aaron Rodgers Media Availability (Nov. 19) | Pittsburgh Steelers

Aaron Rodgers Media Availability (Nov. 19) | Pittsburgh Steelers

everyone. Uh, it feels better than it did Sunday, that’s for sure. What happened? What What play it was that second? Yeah, the second down play. Yeah, that’s when it happened. And I was in a lot of pain. We were late in play. Clock, called timeout, came over. Felt like I could go one more play and then went in uh got it checked out. What’s the process? What have you been doing to try to get it better? I think that’s kind of the same question. I had a lot of rehab. uh was thankful to get today to work with Gabe and just focus on rehab for today. I’m try and get back on the field tomorrow and see uh see what I can do. Have you been able to find a brace been able to find something you think might work? We’re working through that. Would it be a pain tolerance thing for you if you if you play on Sunday? Is that something you’d have to No, it’d be a safety safety thing. Did it aggravate anything or was this like a brand whole new injury? Brand brand new. What has to happen when you go to play on Sunday? Uh, got to get the okay and got to feel like I can uh protect myself. Is there added incentive for you for the opponent this week? Uh, there’s incentive for every opponent, but I have enjoyed many a Sunday and Monday and many Thursdays uh in that city. It’s a great sports town, phenomenal uh sports fans and great place to play. Do you sort of thrive off of being the the villain there a little bit? Sort of enjoy that. I’d rather not be. I mean, I’m not in Green Bay anymore. I feel like uh we can uh let bygones be bygones. Maybe I can. I guess uh it’s been it’s a great rivalry. I mean, in the history of all sports, uh you talk about the Lakers and the Celtics and the Red Sox and the Yankees, you got to talk about the Packers and the Bears. And there’s been some uh great memories there. When I first got to Green Bay, the Bears had the all-time series lead. When I left, Packers did. Since Jay Love has taken over, it’s even gotten better. But I hope I hope those fans can put that uh put that behind them. I’m sure they can’t. Um don’t expect them to, but I I really enjoy the city. They got great sports fan. I grew up watching WGN on my five uh five channel TV back in the day. So, I was a Cubs fan and a Bulls fan. How can you not be a Bulls fan unless you don’t like Michael Jordan? I did. I loved them. Um, so it it was a lot of fun memories over the years playing there. Their defense creates a lot of turnovers. What do they What do they do especially that you have to watch out for? Well, they’re great around the football. They’re knocking the ball out. Uh, they have a lot of vision in their defenses. They they mix things up. They attack your protection schemes. Um, coach coach Allen’s got them playing really well and 22 turnovers is a big reason they’re seven and three. on the last play before before you went out, I think well you were kind of frustrated with him. Was it just that he didn’t run that route to the end zone? What was that? What’s it been like trying to get him to kind of adjust to the things that you’re trying to get out of him to make him a better player? Yeah, Re’s a great kid. He’s he’s been playing really well the last few weeks and I’m proud of him. He’s been practicing the right way. He’s been uh growing and working on his craft and um he’s so damn fast. You know, we talked about that route and I was hoping he’d be uh a little bit more deliberate, but listen, Ro is a and and Cal, those guys are such great dudes. They really they want to do it right by me and by Arthur and the offense, and I got nothing but love and appreciation for those guys. Aaron, what’s it been like for you to work with Mason? Yeah, Mason. He’s a troll. He makes every day so much fun. I told him this. I said, “Just thanks for making this fun.” Because um every day he’s got I we we joke in the quarterback room, he’s got a checklist of the jokes he’s got to get off out of his brain every single day, but uh he’s uh he’s hilarious and I really enjoy our time together in the room, in here, outside of facility. Um he’s a great backup, you know, like he he’s super helpful during the week. He’s a professional. He’s ready to play. He’s a gamer. and uh you know watching the locker room last week. I was super fired up watching him go up and down the field in those couple drives he had and and uh thankful for the way he played, the way he prepares and he’s a lot more um type A, I would say, than I am with the preparation. Like he’s wound a little tight, but it makes it good for a good for a good backup quarterback because he’s he’s so uh so in tune to the details and uh yeah, I just love being around him. What was that conversation like in the locker room when you know you have to tell him that he’s going in to start the second half? Yeah, there was no words. I just looked over and pointed at him as I was walking the back in the training room. You said you gave him the favor. I did. He had the pointer. Is there anything that you watched from you gained from watching him operate the offense that maybe you can, you know, sort of bleed into this week that sort of that you notice when maybe when you’re not the one that’s out there? Well, I think you always got to look at uh look at all the plays and and uh with a watchful eye, whether you’re watching yourself or somebody else, there’s always stuff to pick up. For sure. What do you guys have to tap into as an offense? You guys kind of struggled against the Chargers first half this past week kind of rough, but in that second half, it seemed like everyone kind of started to catch on a little bit with the rhythm. They had two really long possessions. What do you feel like is the thing that’s going to make you guys play better, more consistently? We scored 10 points in the first half and 10 on in the second half. Um it’s about consistency. We had a nice first drive. You know, ran the ball well and threw it around a little bit. Uh we had some opportunities. It just it comes down to the details. You know, we got to be on our details, everybody. You know, if there’s a route depth or certain route you’re supposed to run, we got to run that. You know, if there’s a read that we got to make, we got to make the read. Um you know, too many times 10 guys been doing it right and one guy hasn’t. And sometimes it’s difference between a big play or a first down conversion on a third down or moving the drive and scoring points. Seems like you were maybe holding on to the ball a little bit longer in the first half of the last game and someone in the Chargers game. Is that a matter of something the defenses are doing or receivers not getting enough separation? What’s kind of been going on? Uh yeah, I mean I’m trying to throw it to the open guy and there was times where there wasn’t guys open. So because I’ve been feeling a little bit better, I tried to extend some plays a little bit. But we got to keep finding ways to to get our guys open and rip guys open and and when they’re open, we got to hit them. I know we talk so much about Darnell Washington and we ask you about the weapon that he is, but what’s it like from your perspective when you see him having a catch and run like he did where he takes out three Bengals guys at once? Well, they’re getting scared of him for sure, which they should be. He’s a mammoth. Um, but he jumped over a guy. Uh he stiff armed a guy to the ground, ran a guy over, made another guy miss a tackle, then he had a block where he knocked two guys down. Um yeah, man, I’m just so proud of him. Just his approach and really the growth I’ve seen since training camp is is he’s continued to get his body in shape, get his mind in shape, and uh he’s a guy you don’t worry about the details at all. I mean, he is very detail- oriented, super smart player, and then, you know, I just think that the play, you know, with a catch and run, uh, the awareness level that he had to know, I got a guy close to me, I’m going to catch this, then I’m going to turn, then I’m going to stiff arm this guy, and he’s faster than people probably think cuz he’s so tremendously large and and he’s also shifty. third and 17 to drop it off on a checkdown, have him uh make a guy miss and then kind of fall forward and get a first down, it’s not what you expect. Um but those are gamechanging plays and he’s consistently most of the season made those plays. Two more. Take snaps you through wrist. You first and then you last two in terms of taking snaps. I know you probably tried shotgun snaps around your wrist. Is that going to be something you have to make sure you can do or is that another worry where you’re injured? I would say it’d be more difficult to take a snap under center than to catch one in the gun. And there’s been times of my career where we uh have adjusted and and gone to some pistol sets if if we need to uh to still keep the uh kind of the spacing on the uh kind of the run distribution between the halfback and quarterback. But uh the goal will be to take snaps from under center. Do you do you anticipate that this is something that could go all the way to game time on Sunday or do you think you’ll get some clarity about whether you’ll be able to come play within the next couple days? Uh, I’m going to leave that up to Mr. Coach Tomlin. 3,700.

Aaron Rodgers talks to the media on Wednesday, Nov. 19 ahead of the Steelers Week 12 game against the Chicago Bears

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