How Steelers' Aaron Rodgers seemingly warmed to Arthur Smith's offense ahead of Jets game

Long before Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Aaron Rodgers passed for 244 yards and four touchdowns in Pittsburgh's 34-32 win at the New York Jets, his former team, on Sunday afternoon, analysts and reporters suggested that Rodgers wasn't a good fit for a unit led by offensive coordinator Arthur Smith.

Rodgers had grown accustomed to essentially being the CEO of offenses while with the Green Bay Packers and the Jets. However, ESPN's Bill Barnwell pointed out on Monday that Sunday's game held at MetLife Stadium offered signs that Rodgers embraced Smith's system this summer. 

How Aaron Rodgers was different in the Pittsburgh Steelers offense against the New York Jets

"Rodgers wasn't always fond of play-action and wanted to keep his eyes downfield at all times in Green Bay and New York," Barnwell wrote. "But on Sunday, he went 8-of-10 off play-action for 71 yards and three touchdowns, with Smith keeping him in the shotgun for most of his dropbacks and aligning the run game accordingly. Thirteen of the 19 designed runs for Pittsburgh's running backs came out of the shotgun, a shift for a team that ran two-thirds of its carries from under center last season."

Back in June, Albert Breer of Sports Illustrated mentioned that Rodgers previously "had ex-Smith staffmates" Matt LaFleur and Todd Downing as play-callers during his career. LaFleur was Rodgers' head coach with the Packers from 2019 through the 2022 season, while Downing served as Rodgers' play-caller with the Jets during the 2024 campaign. 

Early into training camp, Smith insisted that Rodgers was "the perfect fit for what we want to do with how we package things" on offense. According to ESPN stats, Rodgers ended the weekend ranked 14th in the league among 30 qualified players from Week 1 with a 62.7 adjusted QBR. That said, only Lamar Jackson of the Baltimore Ravens had a better passer rating (144.4) than Rodgers (136.7) ahead of "Monday Night Football." Additionally, Rodgers was seventh in the NFL with a 73.3 percent completion percentage. 

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"Rodgers didn't even attempt a single throw 20 or more yards downfield (though he had a few come very close)," Barnwell added. "Still, Rodgers was accurate and he didn't turn the football over, and that's usually enough for the Steelers to pull out victories."

There understandably remain concerns regarding how Rodgers' body will hold up through the season at the age of 41. If nothing else, he showed on Sunday that he can still be a better-than-average starter against what is supposed to be a solid defense. 

Pittsburgh next hosts the Seattle Seahawks on Sept. 14. Seattle suffered a 17-13 home loss to the San Francisco 49ers on Sunday afternoon.