One of the biggest storylines around the NFL in Week 1 will be quarterback Aaron Rodgers returning to Metlife Stadium to face the New York Jets. Rodgers was expected to turn the Jets into a Super Bowl contender, but he spent two disappointing seasons with the team.
During his first year with the Jets, Rodgers was on the field for just a couple plays before an Achilles tendon injury. Last season, he led New York to a 5-12 record.
Despite that history, though, Pittsburgh Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin anticipates Rodgers approaching the Week 1 trip to New Jersey as just another game.
“He’s just been doing it for so long. I’m sure he’s capable of compartmentalizing that,” Tomlin said of Rodgers on Tuesday. “If it means anything to him more than a normal game, he probably wouldn’t tell you.
“So, we’re going to go play football.”
Aaron Rodgers Set to Face Jets in Week 1
Rodgers and the Jets had a somewhat contentious separation during the offseason. The quarterback was under contract for another season in New York, but the Jets released Rodgers this offseason.
The release didn’t necessarily upset the quarterback. But Rodgers complained through the media how the Jets went about the decision.
He explained during an appearance on ESPN’s The Pat McAfee Show on April 17 that the new Jets coaching staff had already decided his future despite scheduling a meeting with him early in the offseason.
“I figured that when I flew across the country on my dime, there would be a conversation,” Rodgers told McAfee, via The Athletic’s Zack Rosenblatt and RJ Kraft. “I meet with the coach, we start talking … he runs out of the room. I’m like, that’s strange.
“Then he comes back with the GM. So we sit down and I think we’re going to have this long conversation, I’ve flown across the country, and 20 seconds in, I’m talking to the GM, and [Aaron Glenn] leans to the edge of his seat and says: ‘You’re sure you want to play football?’ And I said, ‘Yeah, I’m interested.’ And he said, ‘We’re going in another direction at quarterback.’”
The story sparked reaction online. Even before Rodgers signed with the Steelers (who were rumored to be the front runners for the veteran quarterback), the NFL schedule release revealed Pittsburgh would open the season against the Jets.
Since signing with the Steelers, though, Rodgers has tried to avoid saying anything else negative about the Jets.
“I’m not going to take any shots at my previous organization, if that’s what you’re trying to get me to do,” Rodgers said to the media on June 10.
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With the Steelers-Jets Week 1 matchup looming, first-year Jets head coach Aaron Glenn received questions about Rodgers on Tuesday. Glenn refused to answer what led to the organization’s decision to part ways with Rodgers.
But in a further effort to downplay the potential revenge narrative, Glenn shared the challenges Rodgers will present in Week 1.
“A thrower, getting the guys in and out of the huddle, being able to see the defense, [and] being able to put the guys in the right positions,” Glenn told reporters. “Listen, he is a future Hall of Famer, we all know that. So he is going to cause problems no matter what.”
Tomlin was in somewhat of a similar situation Tuesday. The Steelers didn’t bring back free agent quarterback Justin Fields, who then signed with the Jets this offseason. Week 1 is a potential grudge match for Fields against the Steelers as well.
The Steelers head coach pointed to the fact Fields was a free agent, not released, to downplay the quarterback revenge narrative Tuesday.
“It’s free agency,” Tomlin said. “It was not only our decision; it was his decision. It was mutual.
“There are a lot of moving parts in free agency. I wouldn’t present it in the manner in which you asked it.”
Fields went 4-2 as a starter for the Steelers last season. Russell Wilson replaced Fields in the starting lineup when he recovered from a calf injury during October.
Fields and Wilson each left in free agency last March. Rodgers signed with the Steelers on June 5.
Steelers’ Mike Tomlin Reacts to Aaron Rodgers ‘Revenge Game’ Narrative vs. Jets