August 19 2012: QB Charlie Batch (16) of the Pittsburgh Steelers warming up during the game against the Indianapolis Colts at Heinz Field
Speaking recently with TMZ Sports, former Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Charlie Batch said many people overlooked how productive Aaron Rodgers was last season in the black and gold.
Rodgers finished 15th in the NFL in passing yards (3,322) last season, along with posting an impressive 24-to-7 touchdown-to-interception ratio. He played in 16 of the 17 regular season games, only missing the Week 12 game against the Chicago Bears due to a suffering multiple fractures in his non-throwing (left) wrist.
“People forget that,” Batch said. “And, of course, I understand around Steelers Nation, they look at the end result, which was the loss in the playoffs to the Texans. And he didn’t play his best game at that particular point. But when you look at overall for the season that he had, it far exceeded anything else that anybody expected around Steelers Nation. That’s why they wanted to run it back with him.”
Batch thinks the four-time NFL MVP reuniting with Mike McCarthy will have better results.
“I think the biggest thing for me, even though you have the additions at the wide receiver group, it’s the offense that is going to be completely different than what he had last year in Arthur Smith’s system,” Batch said.
“Him and Mike McCarthy, they’ve been together for 18 years. He understands this system. So even though he has not been in the offseason program up until this point, he is so far ahead of everybody else because he essentially has a PhD in this offense, something that he’s been able to have four league MVPs.”
McCarthy’s offense is known to put up points and the Steelers have bolstered their wide receiver corps with trading for Michael Pittman Jr. and selecting Germie Bernard in the second round.
“The Steelers did a really nice job of retooling that offensive side of the ball, getting him some weapons that he didn’t have last year,” Batch said. “I fully expect him to have a better season this year than he did last year.”
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