From personal experience, former Cleveland Browns head coach Eric Mangini sees plenty of problems brewing between Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Aaron Rodgers and offensive coordinator Arthur Smith. Two strong personalities attempting to catch lightning in a bottle in their lone year together, Mangini wonders if the team can make it work.
“One of the things that I’m struggling with Arthur Smith is, are they gonna do what Aaron Rodgers does best?” Mangini said Monday on FS1’s Breakfast Ball. “And to me the only way that this works and makes sense is if you lean into what he does best. And not try to force your system on him.”
Mangini compared it to his time with Brett Favre, his quarterback as the New York Jets’ head coach in 2008. His first year after a Hall-of-Fame tenure with the Green Bay Packers, a 39-year-old Favre signed with New York. Coming off an MVP-caliber 2007 season, Favre struggled to recapture that magic. He finished the year with 22 touchdown passes and 22 interceptions, and the Jets collapsed down the stretch to finish 9-7 and out of the playoff picture.
Favre left after the season. Mangini was fired.
“There’s gonna be a lot of friction, I think, between those two guys throughout the course of the season,” Mangini said.
However, Mangini doesn’t detail why he thinks there will be friction. Some of it is surface level. Veteran quarterback and coordinator trying to balance the right amount of give-and-take. But the same could apply to virtually any new quarterback/coordinator pairing. Mangini casually mentions Smith’s relationship with Russell Wilson last season, one fraught with issues, but that doesn’t guarantee the same will apply with Rodgers. So far, Smith and Rodgers have seen eye-to-eye and even with Rodgers arriving late, the Steelers built their offense with him in mind. The two planned to keep working together before training camp, too.
While Rodgers has a big personality, he largely hasn’t clashed with coaches throughout his career. Of the many issues with the Jets last season, friction between Rodgers and the offensive coaching staff wasn’t among them.
Smith and Rodgers’ relationship is one to watch and will be vital to the Steelers’ success. As we’ve written, there’s reasons to believe the pairing can work, especially as Smith finds comfort in his second year in Pittsburgh. Mangini is reasonably citing his own problems as a head coach but projecting those to the Steelers’ situation isn’t necessarily accurate.
