With Aaron Rodgers joining the Pittsburgh Steelers, their Week 1 matchup got a little bit juicier. While the New York Jets aren’t one of the Steelers’ biggest rivals, they are Rodgers’ former team. They also have Justin Fields as their starting quarterback. Those factors should add more drama to the game.
“I think it’s going to be fun,” Jets CB Sauce Gardner said recently via the Jets’ YouTube channel. “I think it’s going to be a lot of smiling out there, a lot of competing out there. I’m looking forward to it. I know Aaron is a competitor, they’ve got DK [Metcalf] over there, who’s also a competitor. I think it’s gonna be a pretty good game, very competitive.”
Much has been said about Rodgers’ two-year stint with the Jets. His first season ended before it began, tearing his Achilles in Week 1. While he played in every game during his second season, the Jets were still disappointing. They went 5-12, with Rodgers looking like he was on the decline for most of the year.
However, it doesn’t seem like Rodgers’ former teammates hold any ill will toward him. Other Jets have spoken out in support of him before. Obviously, they want to beat the Steelers in Week 1, but it doesn’t feel like there’s much bad blood between Rodgers and the players.
That doesn’t mean Gardner won’t try to make a statement to open the season. In 2022, the Jets faced Rodgers while he was with the Green Bay Packers. New York won that game, and to celebrate, Gardner put on a cheesehead, a hat commonly worn by Packers fans. It was his way of mocking the Packers after beating them.
Steelers fans don’t wear cheese on their heads, but they do have the Terrible Towel. While disrespecting that would be similar to what Gardner did against the Packers, he seems a little more hesitant about taunting Pittsburgh.
“I don’t know. Pittsburgh, you get a little in the trenches in there,” he said when asked if he has any plans for the Terrible Towel. “I might have to tread lightly, but we play [in New York]. We on home court. I don’t know, I’ve got to think about it.”
While Gardner was hesitant to disrespect the Terrible Towel in Pittsburgh, the game this year is in New York. That could make him feel more comfortable gloating if the Jets beat the Steelers.
Hopefully, someone makes Gardner aware of the curse that comes with insulting the Terrible Towel. In the past, teams have dissed Myron Cope’s iconic creation, and they were hit with awful luck later that season. Ask T.J. Houshmandzadeh or LenDale White. Whether they’re playing in Pittsburgh or not, the Jets might want to choose wisely before tempting fate.
