Aaron Rodgers has played a lot of important games in his career. However, this Sunday’s matchup against the Green Bay Packers has more storylines than nearly all of them. Rodgers spent 18 years in Green Bay, accomplishing a lot during his time there.
Now on his second team since that departure, Rodgers has had nothing but good things to say about the Packers this week. He isn’t taking any shots or providing any bulletin board material. But according to former NFL head coach Jay Gruden, Rodgers shouldn’t have said anything at all.
“We know you’re gonna retire as a Packer,” Gruden said Friday on The Arena. “This is the Steelers vs Packers, man. Lets go back there and kick their ass. We’ll retire some other time. But this week, that’s how I wish he would have come up with the approach. Tons of respect for Aaron, but I don’t think this was the time and the place to have this discussion… That’s retirement speech. You don’t do it on Friday before the game… He keeps giving ammunition to people just to keep shooting at him.”
It’s quite a take. But it shows the precarious position that Rodgers is in this week. He could have said nothing at all, which might lead some to think he’s being smug. Or he could have disparaged the Packers, which Gruden himself probably wouldn’t have liked. Instead he’s made nothing but respectful comments, which some have an issue with.
Really, it seems that some have already made up their mind when it comes to Aaron Rodgers. While the Steelers waited for Rodgers to make a decision last offseason, there was so much talk about him being a bad teammate and a bad influence in the locker room. Yet, none of that has come to fruition. Rodgers isn’t making his weekly television appearances, and he’s done nothing to put himself in the headlines or distract from the team.
In the midst of that, he rolls into Sunday on quite a rhythm. Rodgers threw four touchdowns last week for the second time this season, and he’s doing a good job spreading the ball around. All four tight ends have made big catches in the last two weeks, and Rodgers is continuing to build chemistry with DK Metcalf as well. Plus, he’ll be getting Calvin Austin III back this week.
Aaron Rodgers spent a couple years as a media villain during his time in New York. Despite quite a positive start to his time in Pittsburgh, he’s finding it hard to shake that narrative.
