Pittsburgh Steelers QB Aaron Rodgers has played well through his first four games with the team. He’s led the Steelers to a 3-1 record and the lead in the AFC North. CBSSports.com’s Cody Benjamin even has Rodgers 10th in his weekly quarterback rankings.
But not everyone is so high on Rodgers. And it’s a function of the Steelers’ offense as a whole.
“They are playing a style of offense that Rodgers, at 41 years old, surprisingly older than Joe Flacco, needs to play,” Austin Gayle said Thursday on The Ringer NFL Show. “Because he doesn’t want to get hit, can’t move with his feet anymore, can’t extend plays, he needs to get the ball out fast. When they go against better teams, ’cause I think their schedule to start the season has been very underrated easy. I think you’re going to see how much this Steelers offense is fake when you start to go against more playable defenses.”
Gayle listed the defenses that he thinks will give the Steelers trouble, including the Los Angeles Chargers and their divisional rivals, the Cleveland Browns. But the reason he thinks the Steelers’ offense is “fake” is because of the underlying numbers.
Gayle listed some incredible stats earlier in the segment. Rodgers has the quickest time to throw in the league and in his career. He’s got the lowest average depth of target of his career. And no other quarterback is within a yard of him this year. And the cherry on the top is that 71 percent of his yards are coming after the catch. Per Pro Football Reference, Aaron Rodgers is averaging 7.5 yards after the catch.
And Gayle even highlights WR DK Metcalf’s usage as an example of just how odd the Steelers’ offense is. Our own Alex Kozora had an excellent breakdown of Metcalf’s usage through four games, and it’s eye-opening. His average depth of target and yards after the catch per catch are completely different from his time with the Seattle Seahawks.
So, it makes a bit of sense that people like Gayle would question whether this style of offense is sustainable. But there are two points to be made here: One, it’s working so far. And two, I don’t necessarily think the Steelers want to play like this all season.
So far, the Steelers are playing winning football with this style of offense. They’re 3-1. And Metcalf had himself a game against the Minnesota Vikings last Sunday. Rodgers targeted him five times, and Metcalf had five catches for 126 yards and a touchdown.
But the Steelers are playing cautious football with Rodgers so far. Part of that is the offensive line. LT Broderick Jones struggled through the first few games of the season. But he played well against the Vikings, and you know the Steelers are happy about that. If he can play consistently (at least) decent football, that will give Rodgers more time to attack down the field.
A better run game may help as well. If the Steelers can generate more of a ground game, defenses might have to play tighter to the line of scrimmage. That would give Rodgers and company more opportunities to attack down the field as well.
So, maybe the Steelers’ offense isn’t sustainable in its current form. But I don’t think they want to play this way in every single game the rest of the season, either.
