The obvious hope with Aaron Rodgers is that he can help the Pittsburgh Steelers offense take the next step. But perhaps he can provide a similar boost to a defense that has high hopes of being the league’s very best.
“The good on good work is an obvious thing,” Mike Tomlin said of Rodgers versus the defense via Movin’ the Chains on SiriusXM NFL Radio with Pat Kirwan and Jim Miller. “But there’s so many subtle benefits that you really don’t talk or think about the way he’s challenging them pre-snap. There’s snap readiness, like his ability to work cadence and change pace. Sometimes he’s first-sounding them not giving them an opportunity to communicate. Sometimes he’s hard-counting them, double-counting them, triple-counting them.
“His ability to work the line of scrimmage through cadence and changes of pace is really good training for defense.”
Helping the pass rushers and defensive linemen prepare for different arm angles and a quick release is one thing, but stressing communication for the entire defense is hard to simulate without a quarterback like Rodgers. He’s known for his cadence and his ability to catch defenses off guard in the middle of substitutions.
It’s the same thing that led to his viral moment where Tomlin beat him to the punch with a timeout as he rushed to force a penalty on the Steelers defense.
It’s no secret that the defense has lacked proper communication for the past few years. And it’s no big surprise that the defense has experienced massive turnover with a revolving door of inside linebackers and safeties over that same span. They have some of the same challenges to overcome this year with Jalen Ramsey, Darius Slay, Juan Thornhill, Brandin Echols, Malik Harrison and Chuck Clark all new to the team.
On the positive side, they have Patrick Queen returning to wear the green dot again. And Payton Wilson could be an every-down player to help the down-to-down continuity.
Rodgers will put that group through the wringer in practice to prepare for any and all game-like scenarios the defense will see during the season. If they can get themselves organized while Rodgers is intentionally making life difficult for them, they should be up to the task against anybody.
