When Aaron Rodgers is your quarterback, there’s no plays off. Still with one of the NFL’s most impressive arms and the ability to make no-look throws, receivers like Calvin Austin III better be ready every single rep.
“Knowing 8 being our quarterback. Gold jacket, he can get the ball, he sees the field,” Austin told reporters Saturday via the team’s YouTube channel when asked if Rodgers is opening up the offense. “To me what it screams is there’s no dead routes. Somebody running somebody off.”
Austin admitted he wasn’t sure if the middle of the field was more of a focal point under Rodgers than past quarterbacks. The eye test says it is. Rodgers is willing and able to make any throw on the field, still possessing a live arm even at 41-years old with zip and zing to fit passes into tight windows.
Sitting out the entire preseason, the only sample size there is to gauge is his training camp performance. Rodgers’ biggest plays came not throwing down the sideline but the middle of the field, hitting No. 1 DK Metcalf for 40 and 55-yard touchdowns throughout training camp. Austin’s camp was cut short by an oblique injury but before going down, he caught a 20-yard pass over the middle from Rodgers.
Any receiver can get the ball at any time. Rodgers has even explicitly told Steelers’ backs and receivers to always expect the ball. On the final day of camp, Rodgers threw a no-look pass to RB Kenneth Gainwell along the sideline. He wasn’t expecting the throw and bobbled it, leading to an interception by CB Jalen Ramsey.
Lesson learned. Rodgers doesn’t need to see you to throw your way.
“He makes everybody a viable option,” Austin said.
The more ways Pittsburgh’s offense can threaten, the better. Russell Wilson might have an unfair reputation of not throwing down the middle, he hooked up with Austin plenty last season, but the book on him was literally “three pointers and layups,” as captured in an episode of Hard Knocks.
That won’t be the report on Rodgers. Routes won’t be for show or solely to open up someone else, which is what Austin was referencing with the “running somebody off” comment (the idea being a vertical route run solely to create space underneath with no intent or chance of the ball actually being thrown deep). Rodgers will make for a more complete offense in the hopes of having a better-balanced team that leads to a much-needed playoff win.
