June 6, 2025 • 47 mins
Rob King joins Wes Uhler for an instant reaction to Aaron Rodgers signing with the Steelers. Gerry Gulac joins to lend his perspective as well.
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Speaker 1 (00:13):
All right, partner, here we go.
Speaker 2 (00:22):
It's the Pittsburgh Steelers Audio Network. Rogers in trouble.
Speaker 1 (01:03):
It's gonna get there. He turned thirty two yesterday. Does
he have a vintage Momenta E zone for the one?
Richard Rogers? We're a roughoff.
Speaker 3 (01:16):
Touchdown ladies and gentlemen. Ladies and gentlemen, we got them.
Aaron Rodgers, a Pittsburgh Steeler, West Jewler, and Rob King
with you here on a special Steelers Nation radio broadcast
as we bring you some instant reaction to the Pittsburgh
Steelers agreeing to terms with four time MVP Super Bowl
(01:38):
champion and one of the best quarterbacks in the history
of the game. Aaron Rodgers will be joined by Jerry
Dulac and Missy Matthews throughout this reaction program.
Speaker 1 (01:49):
But Kinger, we've been talking about it for months.
Speaker 3 (01:52):
We've been speculating about it four months, the Steelers, Aaron Rodgers,
it's finally official, agreeing to turn on a one year contract.
Speaker 4 (02:01):
You know, it felt inevitable, but it's not done until
it's done, obviously, And now it's done, and I think
we can you know the speculation and what does it mean?
And you know the waiting around, and you know who's
got the upper hand. You know, all these different notions
that people have, and you know they're they're disgusted, They're
not disgusted. He's going to retire, He's not going to retire.
(02:22):
All that stuff over and he's here, and you know,
I'm sure that that it's not quite over yet. I mean,
obviously people are going to dissect what that means. There's
going to be a press conference at some point, but
we can blissfully at some point get back to the
world of football with Aaron Rodgers as this others quarterback.
Speaker 1 (02:41):
And yeah, it certainly is.
Speaker 3 (02:43):
Like you said, I think we all had an inkling
that this was going to happen. But nothing is official
until it's official. But man, I just you know, starting
thirty thousand foot view here, Kinger, because obviously we'll get
into plenty over the next two hours. And like I said,
have a couple of good guests for you as well.
But if if you would have told me five years ago,
(03:04):
obviously ten years ago, but even five years ago, two
or three years ago, that Aaron Rodgers would be a
Pittsburgh Steeler, I would have never believed it. Like I know,
we've joked for a long time. I think him and
Mike Tomlin have always been fond of each other, have
always been fans of each other. Mike Tomlin has always
spoken glowingly of Aaron Rodgers and vice versa. They've had
some funny moments in the past when the Steelers played
(03:25):
the Packers of them, you know, kind of looking at
each other and laughing and talking at little game during
some competitions, during some contests that they've had in the past.
It has now felt, like I said, like this was
going to happen for a while, but just on the surface,
the Steelers signing a four time MVP Super Bowl champion,
(03:48):
like I said, one of the best quarterbacks in the
history of the league. I think, even so piggybacking off of,
you know, signing Russell Wilson, a Super Bowl champion with
Hall of Fame credentials last year year, it's it's just
been an incredible time period here that I don't think
any of us saw coming.
Speaker 4 (04:07):
No, we didn't see this coming. Ideally, you move from
Ben Roethlisberger onto the next franchise runterback. That rarely happens
in football. I think it's you know, The Steelers have
have always stated that their goal is to get to
the playoffs, win playoff games, and hopefully get to the
(04:28):
super Bowl and win the Super Bowl. Obviously a very
difficult task with twenty nine other teams that are trying
to do the exact same thing you're doing, and you
know your different cycles of where you are with team building, rebuilding,
loading up, unloading, whatever it is. Your team's always in
a constant state of flux. The Steelers have maintained a
(04:51):
high quality of football, which is really kind of amazing
when you look around the NFL. Just look at, for example,
the AFC West, the teams that we are identifying as
the teams that are serious contenders, the elite teams in
the AFC. Well, you got Joe Burrows, you got Josh Allen,
(05:13):
you have I mentioned you, I met Patrick Mahomes, But
Burrows is in that maybe the next group of people.
What I really meant to say was Patrick Mahomes, Josh Allen,
Lamar Jackson, elite quarterbacks.
Speaker 1 (05:23):
You have to have him to win.
Speaker 4 (05:25):
And this the other swung with Russell Wilson hoping he
had a little bit of magic still left in him.
It didn't work out.
Speaker 1 (05:32):
You know.
Speaker 4 (05:33):
It certainly appeared when the team was ten and one
after he took over from fields like maybe it was
going to work out or ten and three. I beg
your pardon, but it didn't. And now you're going to
try with Aaron Rodgers. The question, you know, I think
remains there. Yes, you're getting this superstar, big personality, very
bright guy. In my opinion, he's the best thrower of
(05:54):
a football. Well, he just my I guess I wouldn't
say opinion. I would just say my vantage point. He's
the best rollover of football I've ever seen. Yeah, that
doesn't mean that, you know, you know, I wouldn't want
Dan Marino firing you know, bombs and that sort of stuff,
and and give them Reno time in the and the
pocket and the throws he can make and other guys
Brady obviously, you know Ben had great arm talent. You
(06:18):
know Mahomes has. Mahomes has a little bit of a
lot of Rogers in him to me, But I've never
seen anybody who can throw left foot, right foot, going left,
going right, back pedally, moving forward, standing in the pocket,
touch fire it. I've never seen anybody who has who
has all those things to the degree that Aaron Rodgers has.
The question we're going to be asking and the answer
(06:39):
we're hopefully going to see in the field this year
is is there still enough? Is this the Aaron Rodgers
of five years ago, four years ago who can still
supply magic on a regular basis to a good football team?
Because I think the Steelers have a good football team
around Aaron Rodgers.
Speaker 3 (06:55):
I think that's all well said, and I think that
is certainly the biggest question. I know that there was
a lot of conversation about Aaron Rodgers his form right
his performance in New York. I think that there is
there's no doubt that he's not thirty three. You know,
I played that clip of his famous Hail Mary touchdown
pass to Richard Rodgers when they beat the Detroit Lions
(07:18):
about ten years or so ago, eight years or so,
one of the more famous moments of his career. He's
not that same guy when he was thirty three. That's
running around the pocket and making guys miss and you know,
throwing the ball seventy yards down the field effortlessly. But
I don't think that he has lost it. At the
same time, either, you go back and you watch his
(07:38):
Jets tape, I think, particularly after him and Devonte Adams
got on the same page last year, it was still
high level football. It is not the guy who I think,
you know, would have gone toe to toe with anyone Mahomes,
Alan Burrow, like you mentioned, I mean prime Aaron Rodgers
may be the best thrower of the football we've ever seen.
(07:59):
I think he was kinger, the most naturally gifted and
talented quarterback I had ever seen in my life until
Patrick Mahomes, you know, burst onto the scene these last
five years. This is a guy who I think without
a doubt and we can get into exactly what this
means later, but you are a much better football team
(08:19):
today than you were yesterday. Now does that mean you
are a Super Bowl contender? Does that mean you are
a super Bowl favorite? Does that mean you could run
the gauntlet of having to beat you know, multiple teams
like the Chiefs and the Bills and the Ravens even
to get to a super Bowl? Completely different conversation. But
this is a team that went ten and seven last
year with multiple quarterbacks with you know, some very untimely injuries.
(08:44):
I think you could say to the offense and yeah,
we all know how the stretch run of the season ended.
But if you were ten and seven last year, you're
making an upgrade at quarterback. I think dk Metcalf is
an upgrade, like this is a better team right now
on paper. With Aaron Rodgers, I think that they were
certainly at the end of last season, but obviously definitely
than they were just a few days ago or even yesterday.
Speaker 4 (09:08):
Yeah, you know, Aaron Rodgers down the stretch. It was interesting.
He had eighteen touchdowns and four interceptions down the stretch, yeh,
in his last I think ten games, So the numbers
were still there. Quarterback ratings, you know, I'm just looking
at his numbers now. One to eleven against New England,
one eighteen in the Jets victory over Houston, seventy two
(09:29):
point four against Arizona. Not a good one there, one
fourteen against Indianapolis, one o four against Miami, won twenty
against Jacksonville, won twelve against Miami. You know those are
his quarterback rating everything. No, but you know, you have
to start somewhere when you're looking at statistics, and you know,
I'm sure somebody could point to other statistics that would say,
(09:50):
you know, maybe those statistics are inflated or what have you.
But I see eighteen touchdowns, four interceptions. When you're watching him,
you're seeing he can still make the throws. Look, we
saw we saw at the end of the career for
Tom Brady and for Peyton Manning. You know the sort
of you know, diminishment of athleticism. You know it can
(10:14):
get to a quarterback. Can you get pressure on them early?
Can you make them move around? They're not the same
guys they were when they're twenty seven to twenty eight
year olds. Twenty eight years old, we can't expect them
to be the same guys that they were. We saw
Tom Brady win a Super Bowl late in his career,
very late in his career. You know, I'm not I
don't know what to fully expect as far as where
(10:35):
he is and is he still good enough. The numbers
look awfully good. He looked awfully good down the stretch,
remember coming off in achilles injury in which he missed
the year before. I think he's got a lot of pride.
I think he's got a lot to prove. I was
saying the same things about Russell Wilson last year. When
I say a lot to prove, you know a lot
that he wants to prove. You know, I think for
(10:57):
Russell it's a little different story. Russell was to cast
a side by Denver, not sort of cast a side.
He was cast aside, sure, and that hurt his pride.
I'm sure it must have. You know, Aaron Rodgers, I think,
would love to just come out and prove all the
naysayers wrong, all the people that are that are saying, hey,
you know he should have gone to Mini camp instead
(11:17):
of going to Egypt last year, right, you know, things
like that, And Aaron Rodgers, you know, by doing what
he does and the way he does it, that's going
to be part of what's going to come with him.
But also with him comes the pedigree of excellence that
we talked about, and people will quickly forget all of
those things if he performs well and performs the way
(11:38):
that the Steelers hope he will, and I'm sure he
hopes and expects he will as well.
Speaker 3 (11:42):
I think you're spot on. I know that there is
certainly a vocal element of the Steelers fan base that
is that is going to make it known that they're
upset of the timing of this, that he wasn't at
OTA's you know, even with mandatory mini camp next week
that you know, as long as his contract is signed
by Tuesday, I think it's safe to assume he's going
to be there. If it's mandatory and he is a
(12:02):
contract member of the Pittsburgh Steelers, there will be some
I think, you know, some dissenters in that regard should
should have been here earlier. But you are absolutely correct.
He starts winning, nothing else is gonna matter. He starts
throwing some of those signature, beautiful Aaron Rodgers balls, nothing
else is gonna matter. He has that three to one,
four to one touchdown interception ratio, and I think will
(12:24):
in all likelihood give Steelers fans the best quarterback play
they've seen since, you know, Ben Roethlisbergers kind of twilight years.
I think that there will be an entire Black and
Gold nation. I know that there will be an entire
black and Golden nation behind him. You mentioned some of
those accolades, Kinger, and it is a long list of honors, including,
(12:46):
as I've mentioned a couple times, the MVP of the
League four different times. Only him or Peyton Manning have
won that award four or more times in league history.
Peyton Manning with five, Aaron Rodgers with four. He's also
been a first team All Pro four times, second team
All Pro once, so a five time All Pro, ten
time Pro Bowl selection with his top which is tied
(13:08):
for fifth most by a quarterback, and something that Steeler
fans are gonna hate that continues or will continue to
get mentioned, right of course, Rogers super Bowl Champion, super
Bowl MVP, and that Super Bowl forty five that we
don't necessarily like to talk about around here, where he
was brilliant, I mean over three hundred yards passing and
three touchdowns like I said to be super Bowl MVP
(13:30):
twenty seasons Kinger, two hundred and forty eight games, five thousand,
three hundred and sixty nine completions, sixty five point one
percent completion rate, nearly sixty three thousand yards passing, and
five hundred and three touchdowns. He's basically top ten in
every major passing category, with a Super Bowl ring and
(13:51):
more MVP trophies than anybody other than Peyton Manning.
Speaker 1 (13:55):
That's what you're getting, you know, it.
Speaker 4 (13:58):
Is, and I you know, one of the things that'll
be interesting is how much of that does he still
have and at what point in his career. If he
gets there, is he going to need to or be
willing to play that part That like sort of like
Peyton Manning at the end of his career. Remember Peyton Manning,
That's when he won Super Bowls right going to Denver
(14:21):
and you know, still having the ability that put fear
into the hearts of opponents. But you know, we're lying
much more in a running game than his own individual brilliance.
It was still there and flashes, it was still there
when it was needed. It was still good enough to
win some Super Bowls. You know, it'll be interesting to
see where Aaron Rodgers fits in here because this is
(14:41):
clearly a team that wants to run the ball. And
if the Steelers, you know, the Steelers could wind up
having a really good running game. And you know, again
that goes we talk about this all the time. That
goes hand in glove with your passing game sometimes too.
If teams can just ignore the passing game, load up
the block at box and not worry about it, it's
(15:04):
harder to run the football. Well, if you have Aaron
Rodgers now in DK Metcalf, maybe go out and get
another wide receiver. There's certainly been talk of that whether
they would do that, but you know, you still have
Austin Wilson and others who are who are you know,
ready to jump in and be a big part of
the receiving corps. You know, what's that blend going to
look like? Because I think it will have to be
(15:25):
a blend. You know, I think that there's going to
be times when when Aaron Rodgers, you know, might want
to throw the football, but is you know, the game
plan a call for him to run the football. And
that'll be it'll be interesting, it'll be interesting to look
at and see how it goes.
Speaker 3 (15:40):
No, absolutely, And you know what, let's take our first
break here, King, and when we return, let's expand upon
that conversation. What do you expect from the offense now?
The merger of what Aaron Rodgers wants to do and
has done at a high level versus what we know
the Pittsburgh Steelers and Arthur Smith have as their vision
for the offense in this upcoming twenty twenty five season.
Speaker 1 (16:01):
We'll get to all of that and more as we
roll along.
Speaker 3 (16:03):
About a half an hour from now, Jerry Dulac we'll
join us, and then in the second hour of this
little special edition Aaron Rodgers Reaction Show. What will be
joined by Missy Matthews as well too, So plenty to
get to as we roll along. It's a special edition
of Steelers Nation Radio here on the Steelers Audio Network.
(16:48):
Back on Steelers Nation Radio on the Steelers Audio Network.
Here for a special show, Aaron Rodgers Reaction Show here
on your twenty four to seven home of the Black
and Gold West Shooler and Rob King with you. We
will be joined about twenty minutes from now by Jerry
Dulac of the Pittsburgh Post Gazette in the second hour
of this conversation by our good friend and sideline reporter
(17:09):
for the Steelers, Missy Matthews. As in case somehow you
missed it, in case you're just joining us, if you're
just hopping in here. Aaron Rodgers is a Pittsburgh Steeler. Pending,
of course, a physical he has agreed to terms on
a one year contract with the Pittsburgh Steelers Ian rapaport
just reporting within the last few minutes. King Er that
he expects it to be a one year contract was
(17:31):
already stated by the Steelers on Steelers dot Com as
well too, so a one year contract that Aaron Rodgers
will have a base salary of around ten million dollars
that will include incentives, and you know, Kinger, there had
been a lot of speculation around the contract, I think,
but man as it relates to continuing to build this
offense and what this offense will now look like in
(17:54):
the blend of a four time Super Bowl, four time
MVP Super Bowl champion and winning quarterback along with Arthur
Smith and the Steelers' philosophy on the offensive.
Speaker 1 (18:04):
Side of the football.
Speaker 3 (18:05):
The encouraging thing about this to me is, you know,
this is not going out and signing a forty million
dollar quarterback. Now, that is really going to skew the
money that you have to work with. Not only are
you bringing Aaron Rodgers in, but you're still gonna have
plenty of room to add to this offense as you
kind of decide what that final vision of it is
for or what that final vision of it looks like.
Speaker 4 (18:25):
I'm not sure what the cap space is, but I
think they still have room to maneuver, Yes, room to
go out and get maybe another guy or two to
add to the offense. You know, we were talking about this,
and I've mentioned this a lot to people, and I
think that maybe some Steelers fans, in my opinion, maybe
(18:45):
lose a little bit of this, And again my opinion
could be wrong, obviously, but this is the way I
look at this team is that, you know, two years ago,
Mason Rudolph comes in, does a fabulous job, win some
games down the stretcht them into the playoffs. The team
goes up to Buffalo. I don't know how you felt, West,
but I really felt like they just they were not
(19:08):
in that same league and they were outclassed up in Buffalo.
And we saw that happen at times over the preceding years.
The Steelers had sort of slipped, in my opinion, into
that sort of middle ground of football teams. You know,
the group of teams and there's a lot of them
fighting to get into the playoffs, fighting to get above
(19:29):
five hundred, but no real threat to win a championship.
That's how I perceived the Steelers a couple of years ago.
And by the way, I think hats off in kudos again,
and people probably don't want to hear this, but kudos
to Mike Tomlin and the coaching staff for rising above
that middle ground of teams and getting the team into
the playoffs. Yeah, that's not that you know, that's that
(19:51):
is an accomplishment. I know Steelers fans don't like to
hear that. They want they want to hoist them Bardi trophies,
but you know it, the fact that they were a
little above those teams is also good because it's a
better platform from which to build. Now, better platform meaning
talent wise, not meaning you know, getting high draft picks
and that kind of thing. And then I thought last
year they took a step. They the golf was still there,
(20:15):
but it was not nearly as wide. And you know,
they beat the Washington Commanders, and they beat the Bengals
in a shootout, and they beat the Ravens for the
first time, and then they had that murderous stretch of
games and I was excited to see those games. I
thought it was a real you know, yardstick measuring length
of games for the Steelers, and they didn't measure up.
(20:38):
It's just as simple as that they went zero to five.
You know, this isn't a harsh criticism by me. This
is just that's what happened. Look, you know, they played
the games and they lost. Having said that, they played
the games and they lost, but you can go down
the every single game and look at how much more
(20:58):
competitive they or in those games than they had been
in previous seasons against similar teams. You know, you look
at the game in Philadelphia, a horrible start to that game,
but you're rallying and you're marching in and you have
the ball around the around the Eagles twenty. You're marching
in to try to tie up the game. Late in
the third quarter. You pitch it to Najie Harris, who
(21:21):
never fumbles, and he just fumbles for whatever reason. Philadelphia
recovers and that early lead they'd built, you know, when
the Steelers had those all those three and outs. Okay,
they go on and they win the game. But don't
forget that was a ball game. That was a competitive game.
You were not outclassed at that point. You were playing
with the team that went on to win the Super Bowl.
Same thing could be said for Baltimore. Balls all over
(21:42):
the field that M and T. Banks Stadium, the Ravens
fall on every single fumble. Even with that, the Steelers
have a chance. I think it was I think it
was late in the third or early in the fourth quarter.
They marched the ball into Ravens territory penalty sack and
then they're out of it. But again, playing with a
team that was a good team, even the Chiefs and
(22:03):
the Chiefs that was the game that was the least
close in that stretch. But even in the Chiefs, you know,
I thought it was a bad holding game.
Speaker 1 (22:10):
Ya big moment right before halftime.
Speaker 4 (22:12):
Yeah, on the warrant touchdown run. Otherwise you're probably going
into the half against the Chiefs with the lead. Now,
did you win those games? No, you didn't win those games.
So that's why there's still a golf. You just look
at the record. The record says you played good teams
down the stretch and you lost them all. But what
I saw was a team that was way more competitive.
(22:33):
Now you go into this offseason, you add basically three
more draft picks, because you had three draft picks that
didn't play last year, Essentially Troy Fautana, who's going to
be your starting right tackle, Roman Wilson, who you were
hoping was going to add to your receiving court, Logan
Lee at the defensive line position. You add draft picks
this year, You trade for DK Metcalf. Were there some
(22:56):
losses along the offensive line? Yes, And is it right
to worry about the depth there and wonder about the
depth there? I think it is. You know, but you
also on the defensive side. You know what did you have? Well,
you saw down the stretch that you needed more help
up front and you probably needed some help in the secondary.
So what do they do? Well, they made some signings
in free agency. They drafted a guy in Derek Harmon
(23:20):
that I think the belief is that this guy can
be a really good player. They get Ya Black later,
they add, you know, guys in the secondary, Darius Slay,
who's got a long resume. You're hoping not too long
and that there's still plenty of good football because he
had a good season last year in Philadelphia. You add Thornhill,
you add Eccles, you get Cole holcome back at the
inside linebacker position. I mean to me, you know that
(23:43):
all those guys that I just mentioned, and now Aaron
Rodgers takes you another significant step toward those top teams.
I mean, we look at the top teams in the AFC.
You know, it's Kansas City, it's Buffalo, it's probably Baltimore
belongs in that group. Although they really haven't punched through
the barrier yet. But you know, those are the teams
(24:05):
you can identify, that are the teams that you have
to be able to beat. Steelers obviously beat the Ravens
once last year and lost to him twice. Well, I
think that you've gotten closer to those teams. I think
you got closer last year, and I think with this
offseason and with I should add Malie Harrison to by
the way, the inside linemouping position, other signings they made,
(24:25):
I think they've made another step closer. Now are they
on par with them? Are they parallel with them? Are
they in the same conversation with them?
Speaker 1 (24:32):
I don't know.
Speaker 4 (24:33):
That's why they play the games, you know, That's why
they've got a schedule, and we're gonna go find out.
Speaker 3 (24:38):
I think though, realistically, the closest way to try and
get with those teams is to sign Aaron Rodgers, right,
I like, I think that's I think that's spot on.
What what ultimately does this do for the Steelers ceiling.
We're gonna have to wait until you know, December and
January to truly find that out. But as you stand
(25:01):
here today, I think you have to feel more confident
about your chances in that regard, and Justin Field did
some good positive things for the Steelers at quarterback last season.
Russell Wilson did some good positive things at quarterback for
the Steelers last season. But I also think down the
stretch during that time period that you were just referencing
right there, it didn't feel like the Steelers had multiple
(25:25):
blueprints to beat.
Speaker 1 (25:26):
You, you know what I mean.
Speaker 3 (25:27):
I think, particularly on the offensive side of football, I
think that was an issue for them down the stretch.
They had to play a certain way to be able
to win. They didn't have, you know, a strong plan B,
plan C on down the line. And I think now
with Aaron Rodgers that will change. So you're absolutely right.
I mean, these teams, the Eagles, the Chiefs that we know,
(25:48):
they're not just Super Bowl contenders, they're Super Bowl favorites.
How do you bridge that gap? I think you've done
things that you like you lined out with the defense
and the offense. But the I think the truest, simplest
way to get closer is, you know, by signing this
this four time MVP at quarterback.
Speaker 4 (26:07):
Yeah, I think there's a lot too that Now. I
also think the reason that I laid that out with
the Steelers is that. I think it has to be
a blend. I mean, you know, when you have that
elite quarterback in his prime, it is a huge difference maker.
I mean, I think I'm just blown away by what
the Bills have been able to do. I think, you know,
(26:29):
you see the recipe of great coaching, good organization, and
elite quarterback, and I don't know what order you want
to put them in. I think you have to include
them all. And I think it's something that the Steelers
have prided themselves on over the years as well, is
having all those things in place when you had Ben
Roethlisberger especially, or Terry Bradshaw. Even to go back to
(26:50):
those days. You know, the Bills have just lost great
player after great player in free agency. I was among
the group that was that they would be able to
continue at the high level because they had an off
season in which so many guys were gone. They lost
(27:11):
so many more guys again, I mean, we're talking about
Pro Bowl caliber players, yep, you know, leaving the Bills.
And I was absolutely one hundred percent wrong on that.
It speaks to the greatness of the things I just
mentioned within the Bills organization, particularly you know, the quarterback
and the coach perhaps, but it's no, it's no. You know,
it's no mystery as to why the teams that we
(27:33):
think about and the teams that are rising to the
top have that elite quarterback. Now, you know, I go
back to Peyton Manningham. We're mentioning him. It's a thirty
year old Aaron Rodgers could roll out and win you
x amount of games with his own individual brilliance. Absolutely,
are we Is it fair to ask him to do that?
(27:56):
Is it right as a football team to ask him
to do that? Is that the best way to win football?
I think it's gonna have to be a blend, and
so I think that he is. You know, I think
again we leave you know, I people are just joining
us now. We laid out the numbers eighteen touchdowns, four
interceptions down the stretch and.
Speaker 3 (28:13):
Kinger overall to just in last year what everyone considered
a down year for Aaron Rodgers coming off of a
major Achilles injury as well too, nearly four thousand yards
passing in twenty eight touchdowns. I mean, yes, if if
any of the post Ben Roethlisberger Steelers quarterbacks had done that,
they'd still be here, right Like if Mitch Trice, if
(28:34):
Mitch Trubisky had thrown for four thousand yards and twenty
eight touchdowns, he'd still be here. If Kenny Pickett had
thrown for four thousand yards and twenty eight touchdowns, Russell
Wilson justin fields, they'd still be here. And that's like,
that's the down, that's the bad year for Aaron Rodgers.
Speaker 4 (28:48):
Right Well, if if they're gonna play it that way, Steelers,
they may not want to play it that way. They
may not want to play point, they may not want
to look for four thousand yards of passing out of
their out of their quarterback. I don't know. I don't
know what they're gonna do. I don't know how how
much you know. I can't say I saw Aaron Rodgers
play a ton of games of the Jets. We saw
him play here at akro Sure Stadium against the Steelers.
It's not like I was watching every game Aaron Rodgers played.
(29:11):
And and by the way, I'm also not a scout.
It's not my job to say, oh, I think Aaron
Rodgers has a ton you know. There are scouts that
do that. There are evaluators that break down a player
I mean, you have your own eye tests and your
own opinions, but you know, the proof is always going
to be in the pudding. It's going to be a
very very interesting training camp. To me, mini camp will
be interesting, interesting training camp, interesting season to see what
(29:33):
does that blend look like and does it come together?
You know, the point is that you know if you
have if you have Patrick Mahomes, if you have Josh Allen,
you don't need to have as good a team around
you to win it all, right. I don't think you
can win it all with an average quarterback. I think
you have to have at the very least and above
(29:54):
average quarterback. And again, the further you get away from
elite the air, the the Josh Allens and Patrick Mahomes,
the better your roster better be around that quarterback. Jalen
Hurts I think is a very good quarterback. The Eagles
had a great roster and a great game plan and
a great style of playing, and that was enough for
(30:15):
them to bully their way to a Super Bowl championship.
Speaker 3 (30:19):
If you still a very good quarterback, quarterback, that's right,
like Jared Goff and Detroit, you know.
Speaker 4 (30:25):
Right, I don't know if you're winning I don't, you know,
the Eagles as great as a roster is, I don't know.
I don't know if you're winning the super Bowl with
average quarterback play. So you know, what, what are you
gonna be able to get from Aaron Rodgers? How good
is the roster around him? Well, I think the roster
around Aaron Rodgers is the best roster the Steelers have
had in several years. And I think that Aaron Rodgers
is a guy who's very capable of still playing at
(30:47):
a high level. So I'm intrigued, I'm interested. You know,
people have asked me whether I want to see him.
You bet, I want to see him in black and gold.
I think that he gives them the best of all
this areas that were out there this year. I think
this is the one that gives them the best chance
to do what is always their stated goal get into
(31:08):
the playoffs and win playoff games.
Speaker 3 (31:11):
Completely agree, and I know that there are certainly, again
there's going to be a vocal, you know, portion of
the fan base that is going to say this is
you know, this is a one year band aid. Yeah,
we might you know, have an our an al right season,
we might win ten eleven twelve games, we might win
a playoff game or two, but ultimately we still don't
have that Super Bowl ceiling. And that's all we really
(31:32):
care about is kind of finding the next you know.
Speaker 1 (31:35):
Ben Roethlisberger or Aaron Rodgers.
Speaker 3 (31:36):
When they're still in their early twenties and you can
have them for you know, a dozen years, fifteen years,
that type of thing, twenty years.
Speaker 1 (31:44):
I get it.
Speaker 3 (31:45):
But realistically, when you view through the prism of how
these Steelers operate versus what was available out there, One,
they operate to win games every single season. They don't
look at any season as a as a lost cause
or a hit the reset button as we all know.
And two, I think there was just also a clear, hey,
this is not the offseason to go out and get
that guy. We don't think he's available King or all
(32:08):
those things considered, I think this is the best possible
outcome of This is the guy who is going to
give you, like you said, the most realistic chance to
win double digit games, can tend for a division title,
could tend for a playoff spot, hopefully win some playoff
games in the postseason as well too. I think this
was the again, most realistic, not We're gonna go out
(32:30):
and draft some twenty two year old who's gonna come
in and be the next Jaden Daniels or Ben Roethlisberger
and win fourteen games as rookie year, you know, and
take us to the conference championship game. I think other
than that pie in the sky scenario, this is about
as good as you can get for twenty twenty five.
Speaker 4 (32:45):
Well, the other thing is too, is that you know
fans are I understand where the fan where some fans
are coming from. I understand where fans are saying, what's
going on here? Because you know everything about Aaron Rodgers
and and this scenario is unorthodox. It's not the way
it normally goes, term no doubt. It steps outside of
(33:06):
what is normally done. And when you step outside of
what is normally done in any walk of life, you're
going to invite criticism. That's just the way it goes.
So if you do that, that's part of it, fair
or unfair. That's part of what comes with this sort
of scenario. So if it doesn't work out, fans are
gonna say, see, you know, I knew it wasn't gonna
(33:29):
work out. I didn't like the way it was unfolding. Sure,
that's again, when this is the way things operate in
an unorthodox manner, you were going to open yourself up
for criticism by the same token. I like I said,
I'm really intrigued. I really am interested to see him.
(33:50):
I can't wait to see him up close. I know
it's not the Aaron Rodgers of you know, ten or
twelve years ago. Nobody in their forties is the same
as an athlete as they were when they were at thirty.
It's just impossible. But I'm fascinated to watch him. I
think they're a better football team with him, and I
can't wait to watch him play.
Speaker 3 (34:10):
Yep, I completely concur Another guy who I'm sure is
excited to get Aaron Rodgers here and to get this
thing going is our pal Jerry Dulac of the Pittsburgh
Post Gazette. We will get all of his thoughts. What
does this mean for the Steelers, What does this mean
for the Arthur Smith offense? What are the new expectations
with Aaron Rodgers now being signed and sealed in the
(34:31):
Black and Gold.
Speaker 1 (34:32):
We will talk to Jerry d when we return.
Speaker 3 (34:33):
On the other side, Rob King west Hueler's special edition
Steelers Nation Radio Aaron Rodgers Reaction on the Steelers Audio Network.
(35:17):
Back on Steelers Nation Radio here for a special Aaron
Rodgers Reaction broadcast. You got West Schuler and Rob King
joining us now. Of course, he covers the Steelers for
the Post Gazette. You hear him on the Steelers Audio
Network as part of the pregame shows and a lot
of other things that we do here in our Steelers
and iHeart family.
Speaker 1 (35:35):
Of course, the great Jerry Dulac Jerry.
Speaker 3 (35:38):
We have waited, we have speculated, we have hypothesized about
all of this, but finally official, Aaron Rodgers, a Pittsburgh
Steeler on a one year contract. I guess I would
ask for your instant reaction, but maybe it's more kind
of the reaction that you've been waiting and sitting on
here for a couple months.
Speaker 5 (35:57):
Well, fellas, First, let me say last night on my
weekly golf radio show, both Jim Nance and Dan Hicks,
Golf's two pop broadcasters, were on the show last night.
But to be on with you and Rob King ranks
right up there with that. To go on with this duo,
(36:20):
so like last night, to be on with that duo
is a real treat for me.
Speaker 1 (36:23):
Well, we appreciated, Jerry.
Speaker 4 (36:25):
It sounds like kind of belaboring the obvious, but that's sure.
Speaker 5 (36:32):
When they told me you would be Rob When they
told me you would be joining Wes. At first they
said Wes, I said, let me see my schedule. But
then when they said, when they said Rob King is
joining him, I go put me in. I'm there.
Speaker 1 (36:45):
I was hoping it was going to be the other
way around.
Speaker 5 (36:48):
Hey, hey, Jerry, I can't wait to see you.
Speaker 1 (36:50):
To talk Oakmont with you. Man. After Golf fired up about.
Speaker 6 (36:54):
That, I thought I might. As you can imagine, I've
been very busy between that and what happened here. You know,
I got so yesterday was Thursday. I got word on
Wednesday morning that something was about to finally fall. But
to your question, Wes, I've had the story written for
three weeks, ready to go because there was nothing more
(37:16):
to say other than he's finally agreed to the contract.
And I even had the tweet ready to go for
twenty four hours. So when I got the text, I.
Speaker 5 (37:29):
Just hit the button. And so I was ready for
it because it was expected all along. More importantly, the
Steelers always believed that he was going to sign. That's
why they waited. People thought they would be being made
fools of, you know, Rogers was using them. No, it
was never about money. The deal was always on the
(37:50):
table one year somewhere between fifteen and eighteen million. There
was never any hold up with I want this, I
want that. It was just a question. He told them
he was going to take his time. He did, and
they have fully believed, at least since the NFL Owners
meetings in late March, that he was coming. And here
(38:13):
he is.
Speaker 3 (38:13):
Here he is, Yeah, no doubt and certainly Jerry exciting
for a lot of different reasons. You're adding a four
time NFL MVP, a super Bowl champion, one of the
best to ever do it is now forty one years old,
you know, isn't thirty three right in the middle of
his quarterback prime or anything like that anymore.
Speaker 1 (38:35):
What does this do for expectations in your mind?
Speaker 3 (38:38):
Because I think it's an upgrade at quarterback, which always
raises expectations, But you also consider the backdrop of how
good the division is, how good the conference is, how
much does this really move the needle for the Steelers ceiling?
Speaker 1 (38:52):
For you?
Speaker 5 (38:54):
Yeah, not only do I have some mixed observations. I
think people should and if they haven't to kind of
look at it the same way. Balancing what you're getting
with Aaron Rodgers, and you're getting a forty one year
old quarterback who won only five games last year, with
three receivers better than what the Steelers had for three
(39:16):
and with a running back more Breis Hall, who was
more explosive than Najie Harris, and he won five games,
but he was also performing for the most dysfunctional franchise
International Football League. Now you're getting a four time NFL MVP,
the league's seventh all time leading passer, and in my opinion,
(39:37):
the greatest thrower of the football that I have ever seen.
And so is he going to be the old Aaron Rodgers?
Well I doubt that, but you can't help but be excited.
And all those Steeler fans who have been grumbling on
social media, sending me emails or whatnot, the people who
felt that Rogers was holding up the Steelers and game
(40:00):
on the Steelers, shame on the Steeler way capitulating to
this guy. Whatever it was that they felt, I bet
you all of a sudden knowing they have Aaron Rodgers
now as their quarterback. Their tune will change because you
can't help but be excited. You certainly can't help but
be intrigued. And we're going to see how it plays
out and whether in fact, this is an upgrade for them.
(40:24):
You know, does this get them eleven wins in a
playoff win? I don't know. We're going to find out,
but it can't help but be excited about Aaron Rodgers.
Look the entire league, that's all the leg is talking
about since yesterday. It's all they've been talking about before
yesterday because he's Aaron Rodgers, you know.
Speaker 4 (40:41):
Jar I think you bring up a great point about
the Stealers having a level of confidence that he would
eventually sign with them, and you know the narrative out there,
and look, we know that things go on social media
and they explode and they're runaway trains and everyone's looking
for content for every day. Nobody sits back and wants
to be paid anymore. It's just if they ever did.
(41:02):
But to me, I think some of the things you're
pointing out, the Steelers had a level of confidence and
ultimately the fact that that level of confidence paid off.
Now we might be having a different combination conversation. If
Aaron rodgers announcement was yeah, I decided to retire, then
maybe the organization would be cast in a different light.
But I do think that, you know, I was talking
(41:25):
about this with Wes before that. You know, because Aaron
Rodgers is unorthodox and his approach to signing with his
Steelers is unorthodox, it invites and opens up the possibility
of some criticism. I think to me, a lot of
that criticism, you know, should should be tossed aside to
some degree. Now we'll see how he performs. Obviously, because
(41:48):
the Steelers did get their man. If they didn't get
their man, I think we'd be having a different conversation, that's.
Speaker 5 (41:54):
Right, Rub, and they would be the Steelers would be
viewed in a different light, like they got played by
this guy and they fell court, and now what all
the other veteran possibilities are gone? Do you scramble and
try to trade for Kirk Cousins even though they wouldn't
give up much. You know, they would give up a
fifth round pick for Kirk Cousins. They would have to
negotiate that ten million dollar bonus that he was going
(42:18):
to receive, or would receive from the Atlanta Falcons. But yeah,
it would have put the Steelers in a different light.
But they were confident that this would happen. And so
that's what I said. You can't help but be excited
about Aaron Rodgers is going to be your quarterback now.
You know, there was the same level of anticipation and
excitement last year when they signed Russell Wilson, Super Bowl
(42:41):
champ could have won two ten Pro Bowls, future Hall
of Famer, and you know, at one point they were
ten and three and it was looking like this is
their guy for now, and you know, it didn't pan
out at the end of the year. I think what's
going to be curious fellas going forward is this kind
a philosophical disconnect that existed at the end of the
(43:04):
season with Russell Wilson and Arthur Smith. Russ wanted to
play one way as a thirteen year veteran. He wanted
to attack down the field, and Arthur Smith wanted a
little more play action, a little more checked down, a
little more passes over the middle. You know, Arthur Smith
didn't dislike Russ. They just butted heads over the way
(43:25):
the offense should run. And it's part of the reason
why Russell Wilson is no longer here. Well, do you
really think that Arthur that Aaron Rogers is going to
capitulate to maybe the style that Arthur Smith wants to employ.
I go back to a story that my dear old
(43:46):
late friend Twinchi Oakin told me once Terry Bradshaw's last
game at Chase Stadium, he comes in off the bench.
You know, he had that injured elbow. First time he
played all year, zing zing zing down the field, one touchdown,
zing zing zing down the field, two touchdowns. Tunch goes
over to him on the sideline. He goes, hey, Brad,
I thought the game plan was to run the ball.
Bradshaw says to him. He says, tounch old boy, I'm
(44:07):
a gun swinger, not a mailman. And it's going to
be the same thing with Aaron Rodgers. I mean, he's
going to play a certain way. And I'm not going
to sit here and say he's a rebel and he's
not going to listen. But I mean, you know you're
dealing with the same type of thing Aaron Rodgers. I've
been told this. Aaron Rodgers is probably or is the
(44:32):
best quarterback at the line of scrimmage. He knows what
he's looking at. He knows how to get in and
out of stuff better than any quarterback in the national
footballing Well, if he goes up to the line of
scrimmage and has to change the play and alder the
routes and alder the protection, which of course altering the
protection any quarterback is allowed to do, well, I mean
you think he's just going to sit there and say, well, look,
(44:53):
this is the play that was called, this is what
we're going to run. I will also tell you when
Arthur Smith met with Aaron Rodgers on his only visit
to Pittsburgh, Arthur really liked Aaron, and he's really excited
to work with him. So we'll see. I believe that
will be the case. But just keep in mind what
happened last year with a thirteen year VET and fourteen
(45:15):
year vet, and now you're talking about what a twenty
one year vet. I don't think he's going to all
of a sudden just say, Okay, we're going to play
the way you want. I'll do that, but I might
have to alter that sometimes.
Speaker 3 (45:27):
Yeah, And I do think that that is ultimately the
most interesting angle of all of this, Jerry. I mean,
last year, at age forty one, Aaron Rodgers threw the
ball five hundred and eighty four times. That was the
That's the third highest total of his twenty years in
the league so far. So it's not like he was
taking a step back from that last year. What's that
marriage look like between him and Arthur Smith and an
(45:48):
offense that we know wants to have an onus on
running the football that I think, like I said, is
certainly at the top of the list of all the
things that we're excited to figure out once we really
get this thing going. Thank you so much for taking
the time to join us. I know it's a crazy
time for you with this Aaron Rodgers news now. And
of course we're less than a week away here, just
a few days away from the eyes of the golf world,
(46:10):
you know, Pittsburgh becoming the center of the golf universe.
So thank you so much for joining us, and enjoy
the Open in this next week or so here.
Speaker 5 (46:19):
Well, fellas with the interview schedule that I have coming
up today, I doubt I will join any duo better
than the two I just do.
Speaker 1 (46:28):
Thank you do always a pleasure, my friend.
Speaker 5 (46:31):
All right, Rob, I'll see it.
Speaker 3 (46:33):
We see Jerry there he goes the hardest working man
in the area. Right now, Jerry, Do I mean you
talk about the world. The world's converging for him at
may be the worst possible time. Uh, everything happening with
the Steelers right now, the US open rolling into town
in just a few days.
Speaker 1 (46:49):
Jerry Dulac is like the center of the universe right now, Kinger.
Speaker 4 (46:52):
Yeah, well he always is, Right's our buddy. That's our buddy,
Jerry Dulac. And exciting times for sure, busy but exciting,
no doubt.
Speaker 3 (47:01):
And I want to dig into a little bit more
of that stat that I just unearthed there, King or Howe.
Speaker 1 (47:06):
In his twenty years so far in the.
Speaker 3 (47:08):
League, last year Aaron Rodgers threw the third most passes
he ever has. Was that a function of dysfunction in
New York and him just doing the thing himself? What
does that marriage look like with Arthur Smith as the
Steelers try and strike the balance between letting the four
time MVP future Hall of Famer do what he wants
to do versus what they've been building towards doing on
(47:29):
that offense, Let's discuss all of.
Speaker 1 (47:31):
That when we return for Hour number two.
Speaker 3 (47:33):
We'll also be joined by Missy Matthews during the second
hour of this special edition on Steelers Nation Radio. A
little Aaron Rodgers Reaction on the Steelers Audio Network
All right, partner, here we go.
Speaker 2 (00:22):
It's the Pittsburgh Steelers Audio Network. Rogers in trouble.
Speaker 1 (01:03):
It's gonna get there. He turned thirty two yesterday. Does
he have a vintage Momenta E zone for the one?
Richard Rogers? We're a roughoff.
Speaker 3 (01:16):
Touchdown ladies and gentlemen. Ladies and gentlemen, we got them.
Aaron Rodgers, a Pittsburgh Steeler, West Jewler, and Rob King
with you here on a special Steelers Nation radio broadcast
as we bring you some instant reaction to the Pittsburgh
Steelers agreeing to terms with four time MVP Super Bowl
(01:38):
champion and one of the best quarterbacks in the history
of the game. Aaron Rodgers will be joined by Jerry
Dulac and Missy Matthews throughout this reaction program.
Speaker 1 (01:49):
But Kinger, we've been talking about it for months.
Speaker 3 (01:52):
We've been speculating about it four months, the Steelers, Aaron Rodgers,
it's finally official, agreeing to turn on a one year contract.
Speaker 4 (02:01):
You know, it felt inevitable, but it's not done until
it's done, obviously, And now it's done, and I think
we can you know the speculation and what does it mean?
And you know the waiting around, and you know who's
got the upper hand. You know, all these different notions
that people have, and you know they're they're disgusted, They're
not disgusted. He's going to retire, He's not going to retire.
(02:22):
All that stuff over and he's here, and you know,
I'm sure that that it's not quite over yet. I mean,
obviously people are going to dissect what that means. There's
going to be a press conference at some point, but
we can blissfully at some point get back to the
world of football with Aaron Rodgers as this others quarterback.
Speaker 1 (02:41):
And yeah, it certainly is.
Speaker 3 (02:43):
Like you said, I think we all had an inkling
that this was going to happen. But nothing is official
until it's official. But man, I just you know, starting
thirty thousand foot view here, Kinger, because obviously we'll get
into plenty over the next two hours. And like I said,
have a couple of good guests for you as well.
But if if you would have told me five years ago,
(03:04):
obviously ten years ago, but even five years ago, two
or three years ago, that Aaron Rodgers would be a
Pittsburgh Steeler, I would have never believed it. Like I know,
we've joked for a long time. I think him and
Mike Tomlin have always been fond of each other, have
always been fans of each other. Mike Tomlin has always
spoken glowingly of Aaron Rodgers and vice versa. They've had
some funny moments in the past when the Steelers played
(03:25):
the Packers of them, you know, kind of looking at
each other and laughing and talking at little game during
some competitions, during some contests that they've had in the past.
It has now felt, like I said, like this was
going to happen for a while, but just on the surface,
the Steelers signing a four time MVP Super Bowl champion,
(03:48):
like I said, one of the best quarterbacks in the
history of the league. I think, even so piggybacking off of,
you know, signing Russell Wilson, a Super Bowl champion with
Hall of Fame credentials last year year, it's it's just
been an incredible time period here that I don't think
any of us saw coming.
Speaker 4 (04:07):
No, we didn't see this coming. Ideally, you move from
Ben Roethlisberger onto the next franchise runterback. That rarely happens
in football. I think it's you know, The Steelers have
have always stated that their goal is to get to
the playoffs, win playoff games, and hopefully get to the
(04:28):
super Bowl and win the Super Bowl. Obviously a very
difficult task with twenty nine other teams that are trying
to do the exact same thing you're doing, and you
know your different cycles of where you are with team building, rebuilding,
loading up, unloading, whatever it is. Your team's always in
a constant state of flux. The Steelers have maintained a
(04:51):
high quality of football, which is really kind of amazing
when you look around the NFL. Just look at, for example,
the AFC West, the teams that we are identifying as
the teams that are serious contenders, the elite teams in
the AFC. Well, you got Joe Burrows, you got Josh Allen,
(05:13):
you have I mentioned you, I met Patrick Mahomes, But
Burrows is in that maybe the next group of people.
What I really meant to say was Patrick Mahomes, Josh Allen,
Lamar Jackson, elite quarterbacks.
Speaker 1 (05:23):
You have to have him to win.
Speaker 4 (05:25):
And this the other swung with Russell Wilson hoping he
had a little bit of magic still left in him.
It didn't work out.
Speaker 1 (05:32):
You know.
Speaker 4 (05:33):
It certainly appeared when the team was ten and one
after he took over from fields like maybe it was
going to work out or ten and three. I beg
your pardon, but it didn't. And now you're going to
try with Aaron Rodgers. The question, you know, I think
remains there. Yes, you're getting this superstar, big personality, very
bright guy. In my opinion, he's the best thrower of
(05:54):
a football. Well, he just my I guess I wouldn't
say opinion. I would just say my vantage point. He's
the best rollover of football I've ever seen. Yeah, that
doesn't mean that, you know, you know, I wouldn't want
Dan Marino firing you know, bombs and that sort of stuff,
and and give them Reno time in the and the
pocket and the throws he can make and other guys
Brady obviously, you know Ben had great arm talent. You
(06:18):
know Mahomes has. Mahomes has a little bit of a
lot of Rogers in him to me, But I've never
seen anybody who can throw left foot, right foot, going left,
going right, back pedally, moving forward, standing in the pocket,
touch fire it. I've never seen anybody who has who
has all those things to the degree that Aaron Rodgers has.
The question we're going to be asking and the answer
(06:39):
we're hopefully going to see in the field this year
is is there still enough? Is this the Aaron Rodgers
of five years ago, four years ago who can still
supply magic on a regular basis to a good football team?
Because I think the Steelers have a good football team
around Aaron Rodgers.
Speaker 3 (06:55):
I think that's all well said, and I think that
is certainly the biggest question. I know that there was
a lot of conversation about Aaron Rodgers his form right
his performance in New York. I think that there is
there's no doubt that he's not thirty three. You know,
I played that clip of his famous Hail Mary touchdown
pass to Richard Rodgers when they beat the Detroit Lions
(07:18):
about ten years or so ago, eight years or so,
one of the more famous moments of his career. He's
not that same guy when he was thirty three. That's
running around the pocket and making guys miss and you know,
throwing the ball seventy yards down the field effortlessly. But
I don't think that he has lost it. At the
same time, either, you go back and you watch his
(07:38):
Jets tape, I think, particularly after him and Devonte Adams
got on the same page last year, it was still
high level football. It is not the guy who I think,
you know, would have gone toe to toe with anyone Mahomes,
Alan Burrow, like you mentioned, I mean prime Aaron Rodgers
may be the best thrower of the football we've ever seen.
(07:59):
I think he was kinger, the most naturally gifted and
talented quarterback I had ever seen in my life until
Patrick Mahomes, you know, burst onto the scene these last
five years. This is a guy who I think without
a doubt and we can get into exactly what this
means later, but you are a much better football team
(08:19):
today than you were yesterday. Now does that mean you
are a Super Bowl contender? Does that mean you are
a super Bowl favorite? Does that mean you could run
the gauntlet of having to beat you know, multiple teams
like the Chiefs and the Bills and the Ravens even
to get to a super Bowl? Completely different conversation. But
this is a team that went ten and seven last
year with multiple quarterbacks with you know, some very untimely injuries.
(08:44):
I think you could say to the offense and yeah,
we all know how the stretch run of the season ended.
But if you were ten and seven last year, you're
making an upgrade at quarterback. I think dk Metcalf is
an upgrade, like this is a better team right now
on paper. With Aaron Rodgers, I think that they were
certainly at the end of last season, but obviously definitely
than they were just a few days ago or even yesterday.
Speaker 4 (09:08):
Yeah, you know, Aaron Rodgers down the stretch. It was interesting.
He had eighteen touchdowns and four interceptions down the stretch, yeh,
in his last I think ten games, So the numbers
were still there. Quarterback ratings, you know, I'm just looking
at his numbers now. One to eleven against New England,
one eighteen in the Jets victory over Houston, seventy two
(09:29):
point four against Arizona. Not a good one there, one
fourteen against Indianapolis, one o four against Miami, won twenty
against Jacksonville, won twelve against Miami. You know those are
his quarterback rating everything. No, but you know, you have
to start somewhere when you're looking at statistics, and you know,
I'm sure somebody could point to other statistics that would say,
(09:50):
you know, maybe those statistics are inflated or what have you.
But I see eighteen touchdowns, four interceptions. When you're watching him,
you're seeing he can still make the throws. Look, we
saw we saw at the end of the career for
Tom Brady and for Peyton Manning. You know the sort
of you know, diminishment of athleticism. You know it can
(10:14):
get to a quarterback. Can you get pressure on them early?
Can you make them move around? They're not the same
guys they were when they're twenty seven to twenty eight
year olds. Twenty eight years old, we can't expect them
to be the same guys that they were. We saw
Tom Brady win a Super Bowl late in his career,
very late in his career. You know, I'm not I
don't know what to fully expect as far as where
(10:35):
he is and is he still good enough. The numbers
look awfully good. He looked awfully good down the stretch,
remember coming off in achilles injury in which he missed
the year before. I think he's got a lot of pride.
I think he's got a lot to prove. I was
saying the same things about Russell Wilson last year. When
I say a lot to prove, you know a lot
that he wants to prove. You know, I think for
(10:57):
Russell it's a little different story. Russell was to cast
a side by Denver, not sort of cast a side.
He was cast aside, sure, and that hurt his pride.
I'm sure it must have. You know, Aaron Rodgers, I think,
would love to just come out and prove all the
naysayers wrong, all the people that are that are saying, hey,
you know he should have gone to Mini camp instead
(11:17):
of going to Egypt last year, right, you know, things
like that, And Aaron Rodgers, you know, by doing what
he does and the way he does it, that's going
to be part of what's going to come with him.
But also with him comes the pedigree of excellence that
we talked about, and people will quickly forget all of
those things if he performs well and performs the way
(11:38):
that the Steelers hope he will, and I'm sure he
hopes and expects he will as well.
Speaker 3 (11:42):
I think you're spot on. I know that there is
certainly a vocal element of the Steelers fan base that
is that is going to make it known that they're
upset of the timing of this, that he wasn't at
OTA's you know, even with mandatory mini camp next week
that you know, as long as his contract is signed
by Tuesday, I think it's safe to assume he's going
to be there. If it's mandatory and he is a
(12:02):
contract member of the Pittsburgh Steelers, there will be some
I think, you know, some dissenters in that regard should
should have been here earlier. But you are absolutely correct.
He starts winning, nothing else is gonna matter. He starts
throwing some of those signature, beautiful Aaron Rodgers balls, nothing
else is gonna matter. He has that three to one,
four to one touchdown interception ratio, and I think will
(12:24):
in all likelihood give Steelers fans the best quarterback play
they've seen since, you know, Ben Roethlisbergers kind of twilight years.
I think that there will be an entire Black and
Gold nation. I know that there will be an entire
black and Golden nation behind him. You mentioned some of
those accolades, Kinger, and it is a long list of honors, including,
(12:46):
as I've mentioned a couple times, the MVP of the
League four different times. Only him or Peyton Manning have
won that award four or more times in league history.
Peyton Manning with five, Aaron Rodgers with four. He's also
been a first team All Pro four times, second team
All Pro once, so a five time All Pro, ten
time Pro Bowl selection with his top which is tied
(13:08):
for fifth most by a quarterback, and something that Steeler
fans are gonna hate that continues or will continue to
get mentioned, right of course, Rogers super Bowl Champion, super
Bowl MVP, and that Super Bowl forty five that we
don't necessarily like to talk about around here, where he
was brilliant, I mean over three hundred yards passing and
three touchdowns like I said to be super Bowl MVP
(13:30):
twenty seasons Kinger, two hundred and forty eight games, five thousand,
three hundred and sixty nine completions, sixty five point one
percent completion rate, nearly sixty three thousand yards passing, and
five hundred and three touchdowns. He's basically top ten in
every major passing category, with a Super Bowl ring and
(13:51):
more MVP trophies than anybody other than Peyton Manning.
Speaker 1 (13:55):
That's what you're getting, you know, it.
Speaker 4 (13:58):
Is, and I you know, one of the things that'll
be interesting is how much of that does he still
have and at what point in his career. If he
gets there, is he going to need to or be
willing to play that part That like sort of like
Peyton Manning at the end of his career. Remember Peyton Manning,
That's when he won Super Bowls right going to Denver
(14:21):
and you know, still having the ability that put fear
into the hearts of opponents. But you know, we're lying
much more in a running game than his own individual brilliance.
It was still there and flashes, it was still there
when it was needed. It was still good enough to
win some Super Bowls. You know, it'll be interesting to
see where Aaron Rodgers fits in here because this is
(14:41):
clearly a team that wants to run the ball. And
if the Steelers, you know, the Steelers could wind up
having a really good running game. And you know, again
that goes we talk about this all the time. That
goes hand in glove with your passing game sometimes too.
If teams can just ignore the passing game, load up
the block at box and not worry about it, it's
(15:04):
harder to run the football. Well, if you have Aaron
Rodgers now in DK Metcalf, maybe go out and get
another wide receiver. There's certainly been talk of that whether
they would do that, but you know, you still have
Austin Wilson and others who are who are you know,
ready to jump in and be a big part of
the receiving corps. You know, what's that blend going to
look like? Because I think it will have to be
(15:25):
a blend. You know, I think that there's going to
be times when when Aaron Rodgers, you know, might want
to throw the football, but is you know, the game
plan a call for him to run the football. And
that'll be it'll be interesting, it'll be interesting to look
at and see how it goes.
Speaker 3 (15:40):
No, absolutely, And you know what, let's take our first
break here, King, and when we return, let's expand upon
that conversation. What do you expect from the offense now?
The merger of what Aaron Rodgers wants to do and
has done at a high level versus what we know
the Pittsburgh Steelers and Arthur Smith have as their vision
for the offense in this upcoming twenty twenty five season.
Speaker 1 (16:01):
We'll get to all of that and more as we
roll along.
Speaker 3 (16:03):
About a half an hour from now, Jerry Dulac we'll
join us, and then in the second hour of this
little special edition Aaron Rodgers Reaction Show. What will be
joined by Missy Matthews as well too, So plenty to
get to as we roll along. It's a special edition
of Steelers Nation Radio here on the Steelers Audio Network.
(16:48):
Back on Steelers Nation Radio on the Steelers Audio Network.
Here for a special show, Aaron Rodgers Reaction Show here
on your twenty four to seven home of the Black
and Gold West Shooler and Rob King with you. We
will be joined about twenty minutes from now by Jerry
Dulac of the Pittsburgh Post Gazette in the second hour
of this conversation by our good friend and sideline reporter
(17:09):
for the Steelers, Missy Matthews. As in case somehow you
missed it, in case you're just joining us, if you're
just hopping in here. Aaron Rodgers is a Pittsburgh Steeler. Pending,
of course, a physical he has agreed to terms on
a one year contract with the Pittsburgh Steelers Ian rapaport
just reporting within the last few minutes. King Er that
he expects it to be a one year contract was
(17:31):
already stated by the Steelers on Steelers dot Com as
well too, so a one year contract that Aaron Rodgers
will have a base salary of around ten million dollars
that will include incentives, and you know, Kinger, there had
been a lot of speculation around the contract, I think,
but man as it relates to continuing to build this
offense and what this offense will now look like in
(17:54):
the blend of a four time Super Bowl, four time
MVP Super Bowl champion and winning quarterback along with Arthur
Smith and the Steelers' philosophy on the offensive.
Speaker 1 (18:04):
Side of the football.
Speaker 3 (18:05):
The encouraging thing about this to me is, you know,
this is not going out and signing a forty million
dollar quarterback. Now, that is really going to skew the
money that you have to work with. Not only are
you bringing Aaron Rodgers in, but you're still gonna have
plenty of room to add to this offense as you
kind of decide what that final vision of it is
for or what that final vision of it looks like.
Speaker 4 (18:25):
I'm not sure what the cap space is, but I
think they still have room to maneuver, Yes, room to
go out and get maybe another guy or two to
add to the offense. You know, we were talking about this,
and I've mentioned this a lot to people, and I
think that maybe some Steelers fans, in my opinion, maybe
(18:45):
lose a little bit of this, And again my opinion
could be wrong, obviously, but this is the way I
look at this team is that, you know, two years ago,
Mason Rudolph comes in, does a fabulous job, win some
games down the stretcht them into the playoffs. The team
goes up to Buffalo. I don't know how you felt, West,
but I really felt like they just they were not
(19:08):
in that same league and they were outclassed up in Buffalo.
And we saw that happen at times over the preceding years.
The Steelers had sort of slipped, in my opinion, into
that sort of middle ground of football teams. You know,
the group of teams and there's a lot of them
fighting to get into the playoffs, fighting to get above
(19:29):
five hundred, but no real threat to win a championship.
That's how I perceived the Steelers a couple of years ago.
And by the way, I think hats off in kudos again,
and people probably don't want to hear this, but kudos
to Mike Tomlin and the coaching staff for rising above
that middle ground of teams and getting the team into
the playoffs. Yeah, that's not that you know, that's that
(19:51):
is an accomplishment. I know Steelers fans don't like to
hear that. They want they want to hoist them Bardi trophies,
but you know it, the fact that they were a
little above those teams is also good because it's a
better platform from which to build. Now, better platform meaning
talent wise, not meaning you know, getting high draft picks
and that kind of thing. And then I thought last
year they took a step. They the golf was still there,
(20:15):
but it was not nearly as wide. And you know,
they beat the Washington Commanders, and they beat the Bengals
in a shootout, and they beat the Ravens for the
first time, and then they had that murderous stretch of
games and I was excited to see those games. I
thought it was a real you know, yardstick measuring length
of games for the Steelers, and they didn't measure up.
(20:38):
It's just as simple as that they went zero to five.
You know, this isn't a harsh criticism by me. This
is just that's what happened. Look, you know, they played
the games and they lost. Having said that, they played
the games and they lost, but you can go down
the every single game and look at how much more
(20:58):
competitive they or in those games than they had been
in previous seasons against similar teams. You know, you look
at the game in Philadelphia, a horrible start to that game,
but you're rallying and you're marching in and you have
the ball around the around the Eagles twenty. You're marching
in to try to tie up the game. Late in
the third quarter. You pitch it to Najie Harris, who
(21:21):
never fumbles, and he just fumbles for whatever reason. Philadelphia
recovers and that early lead they'd built, you know, when
the Steelers had those all those three and outs. Okay,
they go on and they win the game. But don't
forget that was a ball game. That was a competitive game.
You were not outclassed at that point. You were playing
with the team that went on to win the Super Bowl.
Same thing could be said for Baltimore. Balls all over
(21:42):
the field that M and T. Banks Stadium, the Ravens
fall on every single fumble. Even with that, the Steelers
have a chance. I think it was I think it
was late in the third or early in the fourth quarter.
They marched the ball into Ravens territory penalty sack and
then they're out of it. But again, playing with a
team that was a good team, even the Chiefs and
(22:03):
the Chiefs that was the game that was the least
close in that stretch. But even in the Chiefs, you know,
I thought it was a bad holding game.
Speaker 1 (22:10):
Ya big moment right before halftime.
Speaker 4 (22:12):
Yeah, on the warrant touchdown run. Otherwise you're probably going
into the half against the Chiefs with the lead. Now,
did you win those games? No, you didn't win those games.
So that's why there's still a golf. You just look
at the record. The record says you played good teams
down the stretch and you lost them all. But what
I saw was a team that was way more competitive.
(22:33):
Now you go into this offseason, you add basically three
more draft picks, because you had three draft picks that
didn't play last year, Essentially Troy Fautana, who's going to
be your starting right tackle, Roman Wilson, who you were
hoping was going to add to your receiving court, Logan
Lee at the defensive line position. You add draft picks
this year, You trade for DK Metcalf. Were there some
(22:56):
losses along the offensive line? Yes, And is it right
to worry about the depth there and wonder about the
depth there? I think it is. You know, but you
also on the defensive side. You know what did you have? Well,
you saw down the stretch that you needed more help
up front and you probably needed some help in the secondary.
So what do they do? Well, they made some signings
in free agency. They drafted a guy in Derek Harmon
(23:20):
that I think the belief is that this guy can
be a really good player. They get Ya Black later,
they add, you know, guys in the secondary, Darius Slay,
who's got a long resume. You're hoping not too long
and that there's still plenty of good football because he
had a good season last year in Philadelphia. You add Thornhill,
you add Eccles, you get Cole holcome back at the
inside linebacker position. I mean to me, you know that
(23:43):
all those guys that I just mentioned, and now Aaron
Rodgers takes you another significant step toward those top teams.
I mean, we look at the top teams in the AFC.
You know, it's Kansas City, it's Buffalo, it's probably Baltimore
belongs in that group. Although they really haven't punched through
the barrier yet. But you know, those are the teams
(24:05):
you can identify, that are the teams that you have
to be able to beat. Steelers obviously beat the Ravens
once last year and lost to him twice. Well, I
think that you've gotten closer to those teams. I think
you got closer last year, and I think with this
offseason and with I should add Malie Harrison to by
the way, the inside linemouping position, other signings they made,
(24:25):
I think they've made another step closer. Now are they
on par with them? Are they parallel with them? Are
they in the same conversation with them?
Speaker 1 (24:32):
I don't know.
Speaker 4 (24:33):
That's why they play the games, you know, That's why
they've got a schedule, and we're gonna go find out.
Speaker 3 (24:38):
I think though, realistically, the closest way to try and
get with those teams is to sign Aaron Rodgers, right,
I like, I think that's I think that's spot on.
What what ultimately does this do for the Steelers ceiling.
We're gonna have to wait until you know, December and
January to truly find that out. But as you stand
(25:01):
here today, I think you have to feel more confident
about your chances in that regard, and Justin Field did
some good positive things for the Steelers at quarterback last season.
Russell Wilson did some good positive things at quarterback for
the Steelers last season. But I also think down the
stretch during that time period that you were just referencing
right there, it didn't feel like the Steelers had multiple
(25:25):
blueprints to beat.
Speaker 1 (25:26):
You, you know what I mean.
Speaker 3 (25:27):
I think, particularly on the offensive side of football, I
think that was an issue for them down the stretch.
They had to play a certain way to be able
to win. They didn't have, you know, a strong plan B,
plan C on down the line. And I think now
with Aaron Rodgers that will change. So you're absolutely right.
I mean, these teams, the Eagles, the Chiefs that we know,
(25:48):
they're not just Super Bowl contenders, they're Super Bowl favorites.
How do you bridge that gap? I think you've done
things that you like you lined out with the defense
and the offense. But the I think the truest, simplest
way to get closer is, you know, by signing this
this four time MVP at quarterback.
Speaker 4 (26:07):
Yeah, I think there's a lot too that Now. I
also think the reason that I laid that out with
the Steelers is that. I think it has to be
a blend. I mean, you know, when you have that
elite quarterback in his prime, it is a huge difference maker.
I mean, I think I'm just blown away by what
the Bills have been able to do. I think, you know,
(26:29):
you see the recipe of great coaching, good organization, and
elite quarterback, and I don't know what order you want
to put them in. I think you have to include
them all. And I think it's something that the Steelers
have prided themselves on over the years as well, is
having all those things in place when you had Ben
Roethlisberger especially, or Terry Bradshaw. Even to go back to
(26:50):
those days. You know, the Bills have just lost great
player after great player in free agency. I was among
the group that was that they would be able to
continue at the high level because they had an off
season in which so many guys were gone. They lost
(27:11):
so many more guys again, I mean, we're talking about
Pro Bowl caliber players, yep, you know, leaving the Bills.
And I was absolutely one hundred percent wrong on that.
It speaks to the greatness of the things I just
mentioned within the Bills organization, particularly you know, the quarterback
and the coach perhaps, but it's no, it's no. You know,
it's no mystery as to why the teams that we
(27:33):
think about and the teams that are rising to the
top have that elite quarterback. Now, you know, I go
back to Peyton Manningham. We're mentioning him. It's a thirty
year old Aaron Rodgers could roll out and win you
x amount of games with his own individual brilliance. Absolutely,
are we Is it fair to ask him to do that?
(27:56):
Is it right as a football team to ask him
to do that? Is that the best way to win football?
I think it's gonna have to be a blend, and
so I think that he is. You know, I think
again we leave you know, I people are just joining
us now. We laid out the numbers eighteen touchdowns, four
interceptions down the stretch and.
Speaker 3 (28:13):
Kinger overall to just in last year what everyone considered
a down year for Aaron Rodgers coming off of a
major Achilles injury as well too, nearly four thousand yards
passing in twenty eight touchdowns. I mean, yes, if if
any of the post Ben Roethlisberger Steelers quarterbacks had done that,
they'd still be here, right Like if Mitch Trice, if
(28:34):
Mitch Trubisky had thrown for four thousand yards and twenty
eight touchdowns, he'd still be here. If Kenny Pickett had
thrown for four thousand yards and twenty eight touchdowns, Russell
Wilson justin fields, they'd still be here. And that's like,
that's the down, that's the bad year for Aaron Rodgers.
Speaker 4 (28:48):
Right Well, if if they're gonna play it that way, Steelers,
they may not want to play it that way. They
may not want to play point, they may not want
to look for four thousand yards of passing out of
their out of their quarterback. I don't know. I don't
know what they're gonna do. I don't know how how
much you know. I can't say I saw Aaron Rodgers
play a ton of games of the Jets. We saw
him play here at akro Sure Stadium against the Steelers.
It's not like I was watching every game Aaron Rodgers played.
(29:11):
And and by the way, I'm also not a scout.
It's not my job to say, oh, I think Aaron
Rodgers has a ton you know. There are scouts that
do that. There are evaluators that break down a player
I mean, you have your own eye tests and your
own opinions, but you know, the proof is always going
to be in the pudding. It's going to be a
very very interesting training camp. To me, mini camp will
be interesting, interesting training camp, interesting season to see what
(29:33):
does that blend look like and does it come together?
You know, the point is that you know if you
have if you have Patrick Mahomes, if you have Josh Allen,
you don't need to have as good a team around
you to win it all, right. I don't think you
can win it all with an average quarterback. I think
you have to have at the very least and above
(29:54):
average quarterback. And again, the further you get away from
elite the air, the the Josh Allens and Patrick Mahomes,
the better your roster better be around that quarterback. Jalen
Hurts I think is a very good quarterback. The Eagles
had a great roster and a great game plan and
a great style of playing, and that was enough for
(30:15):
them to bully their way to a Super Bowl championship.
Speaker 3 (30:19):
If you still a very good quarterback, quarterback, that's right,
like Jared Goff and Detroit, you know.
Speaker 4 (30:25):
Right, I don't know if you're winning I don't, you know,
the Eagles as great as a roster is, I don't know.
I don't know if you're winning the super Bowl with
average quarterback play. So you know, what, what are you
gonna be able to get from Aaron Rodgers? How good
is the roster around him? Well, I think the roster
around Aaron Rodgers is the best roster the Steelers have
had in several years. And I think that Aaron Rodgers
is a guy who's very capable of still playing at
(30:47):
a high level. So I'm intrigued, I'm interested. You know,
people have asked me whether I want to see him.
You bet, I want to see him in black and gold.
I think that he gives them the best of all
this areas that were out there this year. I think
this is the one that gives them the best chance
to do what is always their stated goal get into
(31:08):
the playoffs and win playoff games.
Speaker 3 (31:11):
Completely agree, and I know that there are certainly, again
there's going to be a vocal, you know, portion of
the fan base that is going to say this is
you know, this is a one year band aid. Yeah,
we might you know, have an our an al right season,
we might win ten eleven twelve games, we might win
a playoff game or two, but ultimately we still don't
have that Super Bowl ceiling. And that's all we really
(31:32):
care about is kind of finding the next you know.
Speaker 1 (31:35):
Ben Roethlisberger or Aaron Rodgers.
Speaker 3 (31:36):
When they're still in their early twenties and you can
have them for you know, a dozen years, fifteen years,
that type of thing, twenty years.
Speaker 1 (31:44):
I get it.
Speaker 3 (31:45):
But realistically, when you view through the prism of how
these Steelers operate versus what was available out there, One,
they operate to win games every single season. They don't
look at any season as a as a lost cause
or a hit the reset button as we all know.
And two, I think there was just also a clear, hey,
this is not the offseason to go out and get
that guy. We don't think he's available King or all
(32:08):
those things considered, I think this is the best possible
outcome of This is the guy who is going to
give you, like you said, the most realistic chance to
win double digit games, can tend for a division title,
could tend for a playoff spot, hopefully win some playoff
games in the postseason as well too. I think this
was the again, most realistic, not We're gonna go out
(32:30):
and draft some twenty two year old who's gonna come
in and be the next Jaden Daniels or Ben Roethlisberger
and win fourteen games as rookie year, you know, and
take us to the conference championship game. I think other
than that pie in the sky scenario, this is about
as good as you can get for twenty twenty five.
Speaker 4 (32:45):
Well, the other thing is too, is that you know
fans are I understand where the fan where some fans
are coming from. I understand where fans are saying, what's
going on here? Because you know everything about Aaron Rodgers
and and this scenario is unorthodox. It's not the way
it normally goes, term no doubt. It steps outside of
(33:06):
what is normally done. And when you step outside of
what is normally done in any walk of life, you're
going to invite criticism. That's just the way it goes.
So if you do that, that's part of it, fair
or unfair. That's part of what comes with this sort
of scenario. So if it doesn't work out, fans are
gonna say, see, you know, I knew it wasn't gonna
(33:29):
work out. I didn't like the way it was unfolding. Sure,
that's again, when this is the way things operate in
an unorthodox manner, you were going to open yourself up
for criticism by the same token. I like I said,
I'm really intrigued. I really am interested to see him.
(33:50):
I can't wait to see him up close. I know
it's not the Aaron Rodgers of you know, ten or
twelve years ago. Nobody in their forties is the same
as an athlete as they were when they were at thirty.
It's just impossible. But I'm fascinated to watch him. I
think they're a better football team with him, and I
can't wait to watch him play.
Speaker 3 (34:10):
Yep, I completely concur Another guy who I'm sure is
excited to get Aaron Rodgers here and to get this
thing going is our pal Jerry Dulac of the Pittsburgh
Post Gazette. We will get all of his thoughts. What
does this mean for the Steelers, What does this mean
for the Arthur Smith offense? What are the new expectations
with Aaron Rodgers now being signed and sealed in the
(34:31):
Black and Gold.
Speaker 1 (34:32):
We will talk to Jerry d when we return.
Speaker 3 (34:33):
On the other side, Rob King west Hueler's special edition
Steelers Nation Radio Aaron Rodgers Reaction on the Steelers Audio Network.
(35:17):
Back on Steelers Nation Radio here for a special Aaron
Rodgers Reaction broadcast. You got West Schuler and Rob King
joining us now. Of course, he covers the Steelers for
the Post Gazette. You hear him on the Steelers Audio
Network as part of the pregame shows and a lot
of other things that we do here in our Steelers
and iHeart family.
Speaker 1 (35:35):
Of course, the great Jerry Dulac Jerry.
Speaker 3 (35:38):
We have waited, we have speculated, we have hypothesized about
all of this, but finally official, Aaron Rodgers, a Pittsburgh
Steeler on a one year contract. I guess I would
ask for your instant reaction, but maybe it's more kind
of the reaction that you've been waiting and sitting on
here for a couple months.
Speaker 5 (35:57):
Well, fellas, First, let me say last night on my
weekly golf radio show, both Jim Nance and Dan Hicks,
Golf's two pop broadcasters, were on the show last night.
But to be on with you and Rob King ranks
right up there with that. To go on with this duo,
(36:20):
so like last night, to be on with that duo
is a real treat for me.
Speaker 1 (36:23):
Well, we appreciated, Jerry.
Speaker 4 (36:25):
It sounds like kind of belaboring the obvious, but that's sure.
Speaker 5 (36:32):
When they told me you would be Rob When they
told me you would be joining Wes. At first they
said Wes, I said, let me see my schedule. But
then when they said, when they said Rob King is
joining him, I go put me in. I'm there.
Speaker 1 (36:45):
I was hoping it was going to be the other
way around.
Speaker 5 (36:48):
Hey, hey, Jerry, I can't wait to see you.
Speaker 1 (36:50):
To talk Oakmont with you. Man. After Golf fired up about.
Speaker 6 (36:54):
That, I thought I might. As you can imagine, I've
been very busy between that and what happened here. You know,
I got so yesterday was Thursday. I got word on
Wednesday morning that something was about to finally fall. But
to your question, Wes, I've had the story written for
three weeks, ready to go because there was nothing more
(37:16):
to say other than he's finally agreed to the contract.
And I even had the tweet ready to go for
twenty four hours. So when I got the text, I.
Speaker 5 (37:29):
Just hit the button. And so I was ready for
it because it was expected all along. More importantly, the
Steelers always believed that he was going to sign. That's
why they waited. People thought they would be being made
fools of, you know, Rogers was using them. No, it
was never about money. The deal was always on the
(37:50):
table one year somewhere between fifteen and eighteen million. There
was never any hold up with I want this, I
want that. It was just a question. He told them
he was going to take his time. He did, and
they have fully believed, at least since the NFL Owners
meetings in late March, that he was coming. And here
(38:13):
he is.
Speaker 3 (38:13):
Here he is, Yeah, no doubt and certainly Jerry exciting
for a lot of different reasons. You're adding a four
time NFL MVP, a super Bowl champion, one of the
best to ever do it is now forty one years old,
you know, isn't thirty three right in the middle of
his quarterback prime or anything like that anymore.
Speaker 1 (38:35):
What does this do for expectations in your mind?
Speaker 3 (38:38):
Because I think it's an upgrade at quarterback, which always
raises expectations, But you also consider the backdrop of how
good the division is, how good the conference is, how
much does this really move the needle for the Steelers ceiling?
Speaker 1 (38:52):
For you?
Speaker 5 (38:54):
Yeah, not only do I have some mixed observations. I
think people should and if they haven't to kind of
look at it the same way. Balancing what you're getting
with Aaron Rodgers, and you're getting a forty one year
old quarterback who won only five games last year, with
three receivers better than what the Steelers had for three
(39:16):
and with a running back more Breis Hall, who was
more explosive than Najie Harris, and he won five games,
but he was also performing for the most dysfunctional franchise
International Football League. Now you're getting a four time NFL MVP,
the league's seventh all time leading passer, and in my opinion,
(39:37):
the greatest thrower of the football that I have ever seen.
And so is he going to be the old Aaron Rodgers?
Well I doubt that, but you can't help but be excited.
And all those Steeler fans who have been grumbling on
social media, sending me emails or whatnot, the people who
felt that Rogers was holding up the Steelers and game
(40:00):
on the Steelers, shame on the Steeler way capitulating to
this guy. Whatever it was that they felt, I bet
you all of a sudden knowing they have Aaron Rodgers
now as their quarterback. Their tune will change because you
can't help but be excited. You certainly can't help but
be intrigued. And we're going to see how it plays
out and whether in fact, this is an upgrade for them.
(40:24):
You know, does this get them eleven wins in a
playoff win? I don't know. We're going to find out,
but it can't help but be excited about Aaron Rodgers.
Look the entire league, that's all the leg is talking
about since yesterday. It's all they've been talking about before
yesterday because he's Aaron Rodgers, you know.
Speaker 4 (40:41):
Jar I think you bring up a great point about
the Stealers having a level of confidence that he would
eventually sign with them, and you know the narrative out there,
and look, we know that things go on social media
and they explode and they're runaway trains and everyone's looking
for content for every day. Nobody sits back and wants
to be paid anymore. It's just if they ever did.
(41:02):
But to me, I think some of the things you're
pointing out, the Steelers had a level of confidence and
ultimately the fact that that level of confidence paid off.
Now we might be having a different combination conversation. If
Aaron rodgers announcement was yeah, I decided to retire, then
maybe the organization would be cast in a different light.
But I do think that, you know, I was talking
(41:25):
about this with Wes before that. You know, because Aaron
Rodgers is unorthodox and his approach to signing with his
Steelers is unorthodox, it invites and opens up the possibility
of some criticism. I think to me, a lot of
that criticism, you know, should should be tossed aside to
some degree. Now we'll see how he performs. Obviously, because
(41:48):
the Steelers did get their man. If they didn't get
their man, I think we'd be having a different conversation, that's.
Speaker 5 (41:54):
Right, Rub, and they would be the Steelers would be
viewed in a different light, like they got played by
this guy and they fell court, and now what all
the other veteran possibilities are gone? Do you scramble and
try to trade for Kirk Cousins even though they wouldn't
give up much. You know, they would give up a
fifth round pick for Kirk Cousins. They would have to
negotiate that ten million dollar bonus that he was going
(42:18):
to receive, or would receive from the Atlanta Falcons. But yeah,
it would have put the Steelers in a different light.
But they were confident that this would happen. And so
that's what I said. You can't help but be excited
about Aaron Rodgers is going to be your quarterback now.
You know, there was the same level of anticipation and
excitement last year when they signed Russell Wilson, Super Bowl
(42:41):
champ could have won two ten Pro Bowls, future Hall
of Famer, and you know, at one point they were
ten and three and it was looking like this is
their guy for now, and you know, it didn't pan
out at the end of the year. I think what's
going to be curious fellas going forward is this kind
a philosophical disconnect that existed at the end of the
(43:04):
season with Russell Wilson and Arthur Smith. Russ wanted to
play one way as a thirteen year veteran. He wanted
to attack down the field, and Arthur Smith wanted a
little more play action, a little more checked down, a
little more passes over the middle. You know, Arthur Smith
didn't dislike Russ. They just butted heads over the way
(43:25):
the offense should run. And it's part of the reason
why Russell Wilson is no longer here. Well, do you
really think that Arthur that Aaron Rogers is going to
capitulate to maybe the style that Arthur Smith wants to employ.
I go back to a story that my dear old
(43:46):
late friend Twinchi Oakin told me once Terry Bradshaw's last
game at Chase Stadium, he comes in off the bench.
You know, he had that injured elbow. First time he
played all year, zing zing zing down the field, one touchdown,
zing zing zing down the field, two touchdowns. Tunch goes
over to him on the sideline. He goes, hey, Brad,
I thought the game plan was to run the ball.
Bradshaw says to him. He says, tounch old boy, I'm
(44:07):
a gun swinger, not a mailman. And it's going to
be the same thing with Aaron Rodgers. I mean, he's
going to play a certain way. And I'm not going
to sit here and say he's a rebel and he's
not going to listen. But I mean, you know you're
dealing with the same type of thing Aaron Rodgers. I've
been told this. Aaron Rodgers is probably or is the
(44:32):
best quarterback at the line of scrimmage. He knows what
he's looking at. He knows how to get in and
out of stuff better than any quarterback in the national
footballing Well, if he goes up to the line of
scrimmage and has to change the play and alder the
routes and alder the protection, which of course altering the
protection any quarterback is allowed to do, well, I mean
you think he's just going to sit there and say, well, look,
(44:53):
this is the play that was called, this is what
we're going to run. I will also tell you when
Arthur Smith met with Aaron Rodgers on his only visit
to Pittsburgh, Arthur really liked Aaron, and he's really excited
to work with him. So we'll see. I believe that
will be the case. But just keep in mind what
happened last year with a thirteen year VET and fourteen
(45:15):
year vet, and now you're talking about what a twenty
one year vet. I don't think he's going to all
of a sudden just say, Okay, we're going to play
the way you want. I'll do that, but I might
have to alter that sometimes.
Speaker 3 (45:27):
Yeah, And I do think that that is ultimately the
most interesting angle of all of this, Jerry. I mean,
last year, at age forty one, Aaron Rodgers threw the
ball five hundred and eighty four times. That was the
That's the third highest total of his twenty years in
the league so far. So it's not like he was
taking a step back from that last year. What's that
marriage look like between him and Arthur Smith and an
(45:48):
offense that we know wants to have an onus on
running the football that I think, like I said, is
certainly at the top of the list of all the
things that we're excited to figure out once we really
get this thing going. Thank you so much for taking
the time to join us. I know it's a crazy
time for you with this Aaron Rodgers news now. And
of course we're less than a week away here, just
a few days away from the eyes of the golf world,
(46:10):
you know, Pittsburgh becoming the center of the golf universe.
So thank you so much for joining us, and enjoy
the Open in this next week or so here.
Speaker 5 (46:19):
Well, fellas with the interview schedule that I have coming
up today, I doubt I will join any duo better
than the two I just do.
Speaker 1 (46:28):
Thank you do always a pleasure, my friend.
Speaker 5 (46:31):
All right, Rob, I'll see it.
Speaker 3 (46:33):
We see Jerry there he goes the hardest working man
in the area. Right now, Jerry, Do I mean you
talk about the world. The world's converging for him at
may be the worst possible time. Uh, everything happening with
the Steelers right now, the US open rolling into town
in just a few days.
Speaker 1 (46:49):
Jerry Dulac is like the center of the universe right now, Kinger.
Speaker 4 (46:52):
Yeah, well he always is, Right's our buddy. That's our buddy,
Jerry Dulac. And exciting times for sure, busy but exciting,
no doubt.
Speaker 3 (47:01):
And I want to dig into a little bit more
of that stat that I just unearthed there, King or Howe.
Speaker 1 (47:06):
In his twenty years so far in the.
Speaker 3 (47:08):
League, last year Aaron Rodgers threw the third most passes
he ever has. Was that a function of dysfunction in
New York and him just doing the thing himself? What
does that marriage look like with Arthur Smith as the
Steelers try and strike the balance between letting the four
time MVP future Hall of Famer do what he wants
to do versus what they've been building towards doing on
(47:29):
that offense, Let's discuss all of.
Speaker 1 (47:31):
That when we return for Hour number two.
Speaker 3 (47:33):
We'll also be joined by Missy Matthews during the second
hour of this special edition on Steelers Nation Radio. A
little Aaron Rodgers Reaction on the Steelers Audio Network
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