{"id":337527,"date":"2025-09-03T05:12:11","date_gmt":"2025-09-03T05:12:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/337527\/"},"modified":"2025-09-03T05:12:11","modified_gmt":"2025-09-03T05:12:11","slug":"reporter-believes-aaron-rodgers-will-leave-fans-surprised-sunday","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/337527\/","title":{"rendered":"Reporter Believes Aaron Rodgers Will Leave Fans ‘Surprised’ Sunday"},"content":{"rendered":"

Pittsburgh Steelers fans will get their first look at QB Aaron Rodgers in full uniform Sunday afternoon. After head coach Mike Tomlin kept Rodgers out of preseason action, the four-time NFL MVP will suit up against the New York Jets to open the 2025 NFL season.<\/p>\n

What will he look like against his former team? And what will the Steelers\u2019 offense look like? Jeff Hathhorn, 93.7 The Fan\u2019s sports director, isn\u2019t quite sure what the Steelers\u2019 offense will look like. But he does expect Steelers fans to be surprised by Rodgers.<\/p>\n

In a good way.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think people [will] be surprised with how quick his release still is, how well he moves around in the pocket,\u201d Hathhorn said Tuesday on The Fan Morning Show<\/a>. \u201cCan they establish the ground game? If they can, I think they have a good day Sunday because he still can make throws.\u201d<\/p>\n

Reports at training camp certainly did say that Aaron Rodgers still has the arm that he used to win a Super Bowl early in his career and become one of the best quarterbacks of his generation. Even at 41 years old, Rodgers can still zip passes around the field. The question will be whether he can do that in a game setting.<\/p>\n

Rodgers didn\u2019t get the chance to test that against opposing defenses in preseason outside of a joint practice with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. And legendary Steelers pass rusher James Harrison certainly has questions about Rodgers\u2019 arm<\/a> in recent years. However, Hathhorn believes that Rodgers can still zip passes past defenders based on what he saw this summer.<\/p>\n

Hathhorn also believes that Rodgers can still navigate the pocket quite well. That will be essential all season, but we will see the first test on Sunday against the Jets. Despite the abject failure that was the Jets in 2024, they still have talent. DL Quinnen Williams still gives opposing offensive lines problems. And the Steelers\u2019 offensive line still has questions, both in the run game and in pass protection. Will LT Broderick Jones show why the Steelers traded up for him in the 2023 draft?<\/p>\n

So, it makes sense why Hathhorn isn\u2019t so sure of what Sunday will look like for the Steelers\u2019 offense in general. But he seems to think fans will come away impressed by how Aaron Rodgers still can play quarterback. And if he\u2019s right, that should only mean good things, both on Sunday against the Jets and for the season in general.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Pittsburgh Steelers fans will get their first look at QB Aaron Rodgers in full uniform Sunday afternoon. After…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":247402,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2026],"tags":[8740,1586,7,36514,57,11380,691],"class_list":{"0":"post-337527","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-football","8":"tag-93-7-the-fan","9":"tag-aaron-rodgers","10":"tag-football","11":"tag-jeff-hathhorn","12":"tag-pittsburgh-steelers","13":"tag-the-fan-morning-show","14":"tag-trending"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/115138654708370532","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/337527","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=337527"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/337527\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/247402"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=337527"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=337527"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=337527"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}