Aaron Rodgers has perhaps the best arm talent of all time, so it was odd to see a sure touchdown pass to DK Metcalf fall a few yards short. It turns out there was a simple explanation.
“I asked Rodgers when he was leaving his little postgame interview about that deep ball, and I got a kick out of it because he threw a little moon ball there and it came up woefully short,” Post-Gazette insider Gerry Dulac said Monday via 102.5 WDVE’s Morning Show with Randy Baumann. “He kind of looked up at the top of the stadium. I think he was looking for the wind direction.
“I asked him, ‘Did the wind fool you there?’ He said he actually thought it was blowing the other way. But you could just see it. It just kind of knocked his ball down.”
The Steelers were only leading 9-3 at the time despite the offense looking pretty good throughout the game. This looked like another example of a wasted opportunity to finish a drive in the end zone. Metcalf had to slow way down and still didn’t come close to catching the pass. Here’s the play. Notice the ball lose steam after reaching the top of its arc.
You can even see Rodgers look up at the end of the clip. I’m not sure exactly what he was looking for, but that was his brain processing that the wind direction was opposite his expectations. It was the Steelers’ first drive of the second half, so maybe he just lost track.
Fortunately, that throw came on 1st down, and he made things right with a 25-yard pass to Metcalf the very next play. The Steelers went on to finish the drive in the end zone a few plays later after a Rodgers touchdown pass to Connor Heyward.
This wasn’t a sign that the 41-year-old Rodgers’ arm is finally on the decline. It was just a simple misjudgment of the conditions.
