Throughout his career as one of the greatest quarterbacks the NFL has ever seen, Aaron Rodgers has been a master at reading defenses pre- and post-snap, finding weaknesses and picking apart defenses.
To do that, he’s become a master at the line of scrimmage of draining the play clock, getting as long of a look as possible, while forcing defenders to shift before the snap of the football. On top of that, he’s also been a wizard when it comes to the hard counts, drawing defenders offside and setting up the free shots deep.
Now, in his first training camp with the Pittsburgh Steelers in Latrobe, Rodgers is showing his new teammates just what he can do at the line of scrimmage.
It’s driving defensive captain and All-Pro defensive lineman Cameron Heyward mad.
Appearing on The Pat McAfee Show Wednesday, and previously speaking to ESPN’s Kevin Clark for the “This Is Football” podcast, Heyward discussed just how challenging Rodgers is at the line of scrimmage.
“His cadence is deadly. The thing he does better than anybody, he knows how to abuse a play clock,” Heyward said of Rodgers during his appearance on the Pat McAfee Show. “So we have it [play clock] out during practice, and it’s ridiculous. But it’s gonna make us better.”
Rodgers is very good at scanning the field pre-snap. He takes as much time as possible to see the field, study the safeties and linebackers, and slow-play things pre-snap, waiting until the last second to snap the football. Doing that allows him to try and get the final answer from the defense pre-snap, leading him to know what to do with the football once it’s in his hands.
That’s something the Steelers noted immediately while pursuing him in the offseason, believing Rodgers would be the best field reader at quarterback the team has had since Ben Roethlisberger.
So far, he’s showing that in training camp and giving the star-studded defense fits.
For Heyward, the most challenging part about playing against Rodgers is staying onside, avoiding the hard count, and being in position to get off the ball at the snap.
“Hardest thing for a defensive lineman is, I think, staying onside. He’s got a very sneaky hard count,” Heyward said of Rodgers, according to video via YouTube. “But as a defender, holding your disguise because the dude…he knows every trick in the book and he’s gonna make any defender undress the defense.
“…He might be slow off the ball. You could be antsy and jump off too early, or you might be slow off the ball. I think he’s just messing with rhythm, and as a seasoned quarterback, you can really dictate how fast, how slow you want the game to go.”
That’s great insight into what makes Rodgers so difficult to go up against as a defender. Timing is everything in football, even for defensive pieces. If you have a quarterback manipulating the play clock like Rodgers does, dragging things out, slowing the game down, forcing defenders to move before they want to, it sets up the offense for success.
Right now, Rodgers is doing that to the defense in training camp, and they’re having fits with it. There’s some frustration there, but they know it will only be that much more difficult against opponents each week, giving the Steelers an advantage on that side of the football.
