Patrick Queen christened Aaron Rodgers’ inaugural training camp practice with the Steelers in unceremonious fashion, picking off the legendary quarterback. Rodgers downplayed the interception, which is, of course, the correct course of action. Throwing an interception on your first training camp pass doesn’t mean anything, nor is it predictive.
But it still meant something for Queen to get his hands on an Aaron Rodgers pass. “That’s crazy. Favorite player growing up”, he told Brian Batko of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette on X. Just about every player on the roster watched Rodgers growing up, and Queen is no exception.
But the interception off Rodgers still meant something to Queen even beyond the sentimentality. It is a validation and confirmation of the work he has put in, Queen aiming to redeem himself after a disappointing debut season.
“I’ve been working on interceptions this whole offseason, and it paid off right there”, he said. “But like I said, if it don’t translate to the season it, don’t mean nothing. So we’ve got to keep stacking that every day”.
Patrick Queen has four interceptions over five seasons but did not have a pick in his first year with the Steelers last year. He did post 129 tackles with six for loss, forcing two fumbles and adding seven passes defensed.
But he also knows some of those “passes defensed”, as scored, more accurately were dropped interceptions. That’s why Patrick Queen was pleased to secure the chance off Aaron Rodgers’ pass. It’s a good way to begin training camp, setting the tone for the work ahead.
Queen isn’t the only Steeler to pick off Aaron Rodgers, either. Not yesterday, but rather last year, as Beanie Bishop Jr. got him twice in the same game. After he signed with the Steelers, Bishop said Rodgers began regularly joking those were the last ones he’s getting.
Make no mistake, a training camp interception is not newsworthy in the sense that it foretells future outcomes. But it is a story when it’s Aaron Rodgers and Patrick Queen picks off his first pass with the Steelers. It’s also a story that will rapidly recede into irrelevance—or at least one hopes. Because the only way this persists as a story is if it precedes a pattern of negative events.
The real story is simply Patrick Queen making a play on the ball. The Steelers paid good money to bring him in last year as a free agent, and they are hoping to see more than what he showed them a year ago. If picking off Aaron Rodgers to open training camp speaks to how he will play this year, all the better.
