Aaron Rodgers has always marched to the beat of his own drum. Even before stepping onto the field to play in the Pittsburgh Steelers’ biggest game of the year against the Baltimore Ravens, Rodgers called an audible. Speaking to reporters after the Steelers’ 27-22 win, Rodgers switched the cast on his left wrist in order to more effectively work under center in the hopes of helping the communication and execution of the offense.
“That was a kind of a slightly rogue decision that I made starting Saturday,” Rodgers told reporters via the team’s website. “But Gabe is a great dance partner when it comes to all things medical because him and I have a real good back and forth, about what we should be doing. And today, I just went with a soft cast on there as the bones are healing up. And hopefully I can get out of that at some point.”
Rodgers is referring to head athletic trainer Gabe Amponsah, hired in 2023 to replace longtime trainer John Norwig. In last Sunday’s game against the Buffalo Bills, Rodgers wore a hard cast on his injured left wrist after suffering multiple fractures in Week 12’s game against the Cincinnati Bengals. Pittsburgh worked exclusively from pistol and shotgun in the game and the offense struggled to a pitiful performance. Rodgers threw for just 117 yards and the Steelers managed a lone touchdown on the day.
Working under center meant ditching a bigger and bulkier hard cast that would make it more difficult to cleanly field the football while under center. The soft cast came with the risk of less protection in a Steelers-Ravens rivalry that is always physical and knocked three Steelers out with concussions.
But Rodgers was well-protected against a struggling Baltimore rush. He wasn’t sacked and hit only once. His most serious contact came after catching his own pass on a controversial ruling that did not sit well with head coach John Harbaugh.
While Rodgers did not attribute Sunday’s offensive explosion of 27 points and his single-game Steelers best of 284 yards to being under center, he noted it certainly came with benefits.
“Just the threat of being under center I think was nice to not have to catch a shotgun snap all day,” he said. “And be able to kind of hear a little better at the line of scrimmage. Some of the calls that were going on.”
Pre-game, CBS sideline reporter Tracy Wolfson reported that Rodgers would aim to ditch any protective sleeve for next Monday’s game against the Miami Dolphins. A final determination probably won’t be made until next weekend, though the extra day Pittsburgh has to prepare is helpful.
On and off the field, Rodgers called the right adjustments on Sunday.