{"id":394627,"date":"2025-09-25T01:20:22","date_gmt":"2025-09-25T01:20:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/394627\/"},"modified":"2025-09-25T01:20:22","modified_gmt":"2025-09-25T01:20:22","slug":"aaron-rodgers-hates-his-new-helmet-the-steelers-qb-is-more-upbeat-about-his-teams-offense","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/394627\/","title":{"rendered":"Aaron Rodgers hates his new helmet. The Steelers QB is more upbeat about his team’s offense"},"content":{"rendered":"

PITTSBURGH (AP) \u2014 Aaron Rodgers<\/a> began his 21st season by begrudgingly giving up his now-outdated helmet for one that complies with NFL regulations.<\/p>\n

Three weeks into playing with the new lid, the Pittsburgh Steelers<\/a> quarterback isn\u2019t exactly a convert.<\/p>\n

\u201cI hate it, hate it,\u201d Rodgers said Wednesday.<\/p>\n

Rodgers played with the Schutt Air XP Pro Q11 LTD for years, a model now banned by the NFL for reasons he is still trying to figure out.<\/p>\n

\u201cI wore (the old model) last year, no concussions,\u201d Rodgers said. \u201cSome arbitrary ruling made it obsolete. I should have pushed it more, petitioned the league to let me wear it one more time.\u201d<\/p>\n

As for what specifically bothers him about the updated helmet, the NFL\u2019s oldest active player pointed to its aesthetics. The approved helmet is much larger and much rounder than his previous one, and the difference is noticeable.<\/p>\n

The 41-year-old caught a glimpse of his old look on the videoboard in New England<\/a> last weekend after throwing his 509th touchdown pass, a toss to DK Metcalf that vaulted Rodgers over former teammate Brett Favre and into fourth on the NFL\u2019s career list. <\/p>\n

In the moment, he felt a little wistful.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a picture of me from 2012,\u201d Rodgers said. \u201cI said, \u2018Look at that. Helmet fits perfect. Tiny little ear pads. Face mask in the perfect spot.\u201d<\/p>\n

Yet if there\u2019s anything Rodgers has learned in 2025, it\u2019s adaptability. Now on his third team in four years, he is trying to embrace what he called earlier this season the \u201cnew new.\u201d He doesn\u2019t love the helmet but knows wearing it means he is allowed to do his job.<\/p>\n

And while he believes he\u2019s left plenty of room for improvement during Pittsburgh\u2019s 2-1 start, Rodgers also knows his play and the Steelers offense have made up in efficiency what they have lacked in style. <\/p>\n

It\u2019s one of the reasons he\u2019s upbeat about the direction Pittsburgh is heading as it prepares for an overseas trip to Dublin, Ireland, this weekend to face Minnesota (2-1).<\/p>\n

\u201cI can play better, for sure,\u201d said Rodgers, whose seven touchdown passes are tied for second in the league through three weeks. \u201cYou know, it\u2019s just about sometimes you just have to take what the defense gives you and be comfortable with that. Some of our best plays is just getting the ball into our playmaker\u2019s hands and letting them go. So I just need to be disciplined like I usually am and get the ball to the guys.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Steelers have been outgained by more than 400 yards through three games, but head toward the end of September tied with Joe Burrow-less Cincinnati for first place in the AFC North. <\/p>\n

Yes, it\u2019s still early, but Pittsburgh has converted seven of its eight trips into the red zone into touchdowns, the second-best red zone touchdown rate in the league behind Philadelphia.<\/p>\n

There are far worse things to build on.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re figuring it out,\u201d Rodgers said. \u201cIt hasn\u2019t been the prettiest at times. But the good thing is, our defense played the way they want to play last week and we made just enough plays to win. So at this point, it\u2019s about winning. The chemistry is there, the continuity, the belief in each other is there. It\u2019s just going out and executing.\u201d<\/p>\n

That could be a challenge against the Vikings, who have one of the league\u2019s best defenses led by coordinator Brian Flores, who served as an assistant in Pittsburgh in 2022 after being fired as the head coach in Miami.<\/p>\n

Flores, whose racial discrimination lawsuit against the NFL is still pending<\/a> more than three years after it was filed, excels at keeping opposing quarterbacks off balance. Rodgers, who has seen just about everything during his two decades in the league, knows a unique challenge awaits at Croke Park.<\/p>\n

Yet Rodgers dismissed the idea that there was ever a chance he might have ended up on the other sideline for the NFL\u2019s first regular-season game in Ireland. <\/p>\n

Asked about reports that he approached Minnesota head coach Kevin O\u2019Connell<\/a> \u2014 a longtime friend and occasional workout partner \u2014 about signing with the Vikings instead of Pittsburgh, Rodgers demurred.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve known him forever, we\u2019ve been friends forever, and we keep in touch,\u201d Rodgers said of O\u2019Connell. \u201cHe\u2019s one of the guys I keep in contact with. Things never progressed farther than catch-up conversations. And I\u2019ll leave it at that.\u201d<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

AP NFL: https:\/\/apnews.com\/hub\/NFL<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"PITTSBURGH (AP) \u2014 Aaron Rodgers began his 21st season by begrudgingly giving up his now-outdated helmet for one…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":394628,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2055],"tags":[1586,6696,2870,7,1577,6192,233,20187,122,6,498,6370,5763,520,57,2360,9,426],"class_list":{"0":"post-394627","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-pittsburgh-steelers","8":"tag-aaron-rodgers","9":"tag-brian-flores","10":"tag-dk-metcalf","11":"tag-football","12":"tag-joe-burrow","13":"tag-kevin-oconnell","14":"tag-minnesota","15":"tag-mn-state-wire","16":"tag-national-football-league","17":"tag-nfl","18":"tag-nfl-football","19":"tag-pa-state-wire","20":"tag-pennsylvania","21":"tag-pittsburgh","22":"tag-pittsburgh-steelers","23":"tag-pittsburghsteelers","24":"tag-sports","25":"tag-steelers"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/115262313341626663","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/394627","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=394627"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/394627\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/394628"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=394627"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=394627"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=394627"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}