Aaron Rodgers surprised a lot of people with his four-touchdown, zero-interception performance in the Steelers’ Week 1 win. He’s earned a lot of praise, with some even claiming Rodgers looked like the vintage version of himself. Former NFL CB Domonique Foxworth recognizes that Rodgers played well, but he isn’t ready to go that far yet.
“If you are looking for average, around-average quarterback play, I think you got that from Aaron Rodgers,” Foxworth said Wednesday on ESPN’s Get Up. “You gotta watch the touchdowns. There’s nothing in those touchdowns that makes me think, ‘Oh, this is MVP Aaron Rodgers.’ I don’t mean this as a slight, but I think that this is not a sustainable way for the Steelers to win.”
Foxworth argues that Rodgers’ touchdown passes weren’t exactly him threading the needle, and he’s not wrong. Arthur Smith called a terrific game, one that might even be his best since becoming the Steelers’ offensive coordinator. He did a great job putting his receivers in open areas where Rodgers could get them the ball with ease.
But Rodgers still had to make those throws. And he did in spite of being under pressure for most of the game. That’s another thing Foxworth is worried about.
“He got hit entirely too much,” Foxworth said. “And, you saw he got a little panicky in the pocket once it started happening, which is fair. This game was not the MVP-level Rodgers that I think we’re selling it as.”
Foxworth is absolutely right that Rodgers got hit too much. That might be the biggest concern of anything from the Steelers’ win. At left tackle, Broderick Jones looked almost unplayable, and the Jets got pressure all day. He was sacked four times, which is unsustainable if it continues at that rate.
That said, Rodgers played about as well as possible in the midst of that pressure. He completed over 70 percent of his passes and didn’t let the pressure force him into bad decisions. He focused on getting the ball out quickly, something he did during last season with the Jets when he had similarly bad offensive line play. Smith also did well to get Rodgers out of the pocket a bit, and he tossed two touchdown passes while rolling to his right.
Foxworth is right that this method of winning won’t work for a full season. But that doesn’t mean Aaron Rodgers played average. Sure, he’s not going to win a fifth NFL MVP award, but few realistically think that anyway. With no run game or offensive line, he threw for nearly 250 yards, four touchdowns and no interceptions while leading his team to a gutsy road win. If that’s average quarterback play, then there aren’t many average quarterbacks in the NFL.
