For the second time this season, Aaron Rodgers will face one of his former teams. He beat the New York Jets in Week 1, and now he’ll try to beat the Green Bay Packers on Sunday night. Having spent 18 years in Green Bay, there’s likely going to be some emotions. According to Jalen Ramsey, the Steelers have their quarterback’s back.
“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. You know, we like a family in here. We’ll be together more than we be with our families during the season. So, yeah, if it’s important to him, it’s important to us.”
Rodgers slayed one of his demons by beating the Jets in Week 1. But he isn’t the only one on the Steelers to have their own reunion. In Week 2 it was DK Metcalf when the Steelers lost to Seattle. The following week Jabrill Peppers made an impact in the Steelers’ win over his former team, the New England Patriots.
However, none of those can compare to the storylines regarding this Sunday. Rodgers spent nearly two decades in Green Bay, and he put together a Hall of Fame career as a Packer. He won a Super Bowl, coincidentally over the Steelers, and won the league MVP award four times. There’s a lot of love, but the ending of his time in Green Bay was a little complicated with Jordan Love waiting in the wings.
Even so, Aaron Rodgers hasn’t had anything negative to say about the Packers this week. He and Love have a lot of respect for each other, too. Rodgers mentored Love during their handful of years together, and Love has since become one of the better quarterbacks in the league.
Rodgers rolls into Sunday night with some great momentum. He had the offense humming last Thursday, tossing four touchdown passes and putting up 31 points in a loss. That game saw him scramble and move out of the pocket often. But that likely won’t be the case this week. Micah Parsons and Rashan Gary each have 5.5 sacks, so Rodgers will look to get rid of the ball quickly. He’s also going to need much more help from Ramsey and the rest of the defense than he got last week.
Sunday will be a fun one. One thing we know is that any emotions Aaron Rodgers feels will be felt by the rest of the locker room.
