Aaron Rodgers may be saying all the right things about his motivations against the Green Bay Packers on Sunday Night Football, but Tom Brady isn’t buying it. And who would know better than Brady, who faced a similar situation against the New England Patriots late in his career?
“It is emotional when you play the team that you have so many fond memories [playing for],” Brady said via FOX NFL Sunday. “If I’m ARod, I want to crush the Packers. I wanna make that really clear. Don’t tell this to Mr. Kraft, but I wanted to beat the Patriots by a hundred when I was at the Bucs and we played. Unfortunately, we squeaked away with a win, but that was the attitude you have to take.”
Brady was a little more open about his emotions when playing the Patriots in 2021, but didn’t say anything to that effect in the days leading up to the game. Of course the truth comes out years later when he admits he wanted to beat them by 100.
They are two different people, but it’s hard to believe that Rodgers doesn’t have some of those same thoughts against the Packers. Yet he dismissed the idea of a revenge game to the media earlier this week.
Keep in mind that Rodgers said similar things about the New York Jets leading up to Week 1, and then revealed his true thoughts after the game when he said it was enjoyable beating everybody associated with that organization.
Terry Bradshaw never played for another team outside of Pittsburgh, but he chimed in with his thoughts as well.
“You heard what Tom said, 100 points. I guaranteed you that’s what he wants to do,” Bradshaw said. “He wants to go and beat them in Pittsburgh as bad as any team he’s ever played.”
While Rodgers was saying one thing, his teammates sure made it seem like he was treating this game a bit differently. He was operating the scout team offense for the Steelers’ defense in practice and giving them tips and tricks on Matt LaFleur and Adam Stenavich’s scheme.
Jalen Ramsey also hinted at how important this might be for Rodgers.
“If it’s important to him, it’s important to all of us,” Ramsey said Friday via Steelers.com. “We kind of treat it like that for anybody who has a game against one of their former teams.”
Even if they win, don’t expect Rodgers to barb the Packers in any way. He already revealed he will one day retire with the Packers. But you can bet he has revenge on his mind much more than he let on this week.
