Ravens Sack Leader Wants Revenge Against Aaron Rodgers

"I was playing inside linebacker for whatever reason, the D-coordinator, who is actually the D-coordinator of the Steelers, wanted to go Cover-0 all game against Aaron Rodgers ," Van Noy said. "[Rodgers] caught us in it, and we're like, 'Oh well we gotta run it,' [they] ended scoring a touchdown to Jordy Nelson. He ended up walking by and kind of tapped me on my butt like, 'Nice try.' So, I got to get him back for that. That's been there for 10 years."

Back then, Van Noy was playing out of position as an off-ball linebacker despite having been a potent and productive pass rusher in college at BYU. Rodgers is one of the few great quarterbacks he has faced during his 11 years in the league against whom he has yet to record a sack. He won't get his first opportunity to exact his revenge in the 2025 season until December when the Ravens play the Steelers for the first time in Week 14.

Even Rodgers is no longer at the height of his powers coming off an underwhelming two-year stint with the New York Jets that saw his 2023 season cut short in the opener and last season fall well short of expectations, Van Noy still believes the four-time league MVP and future Hall of Famer can still play at a high level.

"Last year, everybody looks at [it] from a very critiquing setting which everyone should, they're allowed to do that," Van Noy said. "But I look at it in the sense of some of the positive things he's done. I think he's a couple of field goals away from having a winning record and I still feel like he's slinging the ball around."

If he and the Ravens strike out at home in their first matchup of the season against Ridgers and their arch-rivals, Van Noy's second chance at revenge will come in the Week 18 regular-season finale in Pittsburgh. Barring a potential third meeting in the playoffs between their two teams for the second year in a row, it will be his last chance to best and try to sack Rodgers, who announced on Tuesday in an appearance on the Pat McAfee show that he is "pretty sure" the 2025 season will be his last playing in the NFL.