Going against a 20-season NFL veteran in Aaron Rodgers, who has now spent half of his life in the league, it is impossible to show him anything new. He has seen every type of defense, disguised coverage, and blitz. Mike Tomlin knows they still need to keep him guessing.
“When you’re playing a guy as experienced as he is, not only in football but within their system of offense. He can make decisions very quickly. He can look off people. He knows where everyone is. And so you better go in with enough schematics,” Tomlin said via the Mike Tomlin Show with Bob Pompeani on the Steelers’ website. “By that, I mean you better utilize a lot of things. We better pressure him, we better play man, we better play zone, we better use bogus pressure. We’re gonna need all the tools in the toolbox, as we say, in an effort to keep him off balance and stay a step ahead.
“…You better be prepared to carry a decent-sized menu and mix things up and not stay in one particular structure too long.”
The Steelers are getting one major tool back in their toolbox, so to speak, with Alex Highsmith returning from his groin injury. That restores the starting defense to full strength for the time being. I’m not going to pin it all on Highsmith’s absence, but the Steelers’ defense kind of fell apart in the weeks he was unavailable.
This “decent-sized menu” that Tomlin speaks of will also necessitate excellent communication throughout the defense. Patrick Queen is the defense’s quarterback and carries the green dot. Multiple players and coaches spoke about how he is settling into his role in that way. The defense’s communication element is starting to come together, and now they will face a big test against Rodgers.
Believe it or not, Rodgers has only faced Mike Tomlin’s defense three times throughout his career, including the Super Bowl win over the Steelers in the 2010 season. His stats in those three games do not bode well for Tomlin. He has 70 completions on 123 attempts for 935 yards, seven touchdowns, zero interceptions, seven sacks taken, and a 2-1 record. Whatever Tomlin’s approach has been in the past, it hasn’t been overly successful.
But this is now a 40-year-old version of Rodgers on a 2-4 Jets team that fired the head coach recently. They just reunited him with WR Davante Adams for a boost, but Rodgers lacks some of the tools that made him extra dangerous, such as his mobility. This defense has enough talent to limit him to a career-worst performance against the Steelers. Anything more than that, and we are probably talking about another primetime Steelers loss.
