Subscribe
Follow Us
The New York Jets suffered a demoralizing loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers in Week 7. New York allowed 31 unanswered points in Sunday’s 37-15 defeat. Jets quarterback Aaron Rodgers could not solve the Steelers defense in the second half as even his old tricks weren’t working in Pittsburgh.
The savvy veteran passer is a master at manipulating opposing defenses into giving up free plays, both through his cadence, which gets defenders to jump offsides, and by catching a team with 12 men on the field during a substitution.
In Week 7, Mike Tomlin snuffed out one of Rodgers’ favorite moves. The Steelers savvy veteran coach called timeout before Rodgers could get the snap off and catch Pittsburgh with an extra player on the field.
After preventing the penalty with a smart timeout, Tomlin could be seen smirking and nodding in the direction of the Jets QB, acknowledging that he thwarted Rodgers’ attempt to draw the penalty. Rodgers addressed the incident on The Pat McAfee show, noting, “That moment between coach Tomlin, and I was the exact same thing that happened in 2021,” per Pat McAfee on X.
“You remember, we had them. And [Tomlin] called a late timeout, which was just like the other night. And he looked over and did the same thing, kinda smirked and shook his head like, ‘No, no, no. You’re not getting us. You’re not getting us today.’ So kudos to him for being on that,” Rodgers said, via McAfee.
Jets QB Aaron Rodgers couldn’t manipulate the Steelers in Week 7
When asked if more teams around the league have gotten wise to Rodgers’ trickery, the four-time MVP admitted, “I think it’s on their minds for sure.”
Still, the move has been very successful for Rodgers throughout his career.
“Over the years… not only have we got guys with 12 on the field, but there’s been, I want to say three or four times at least, where they haven’t called it, and we’ve gone to a challenge because it’s a challengeable play and actually reversed or brought about the 12-on-the-field call through that,” Rodgers noted, per McAfee on X.
Not much worked out well for the Jets in Week 7. After landing wideout Davante Adams in a trade with the Las Vegas Raiders, the veteran WR had just three catches for 30 yards in his first game with his new team.
Pittsburgh on the other hand, got a great debut from Russell Wilson, who threw for 264 yards and two touchdowns while adding another score on the ground. The Steelers named Wilson the starter for Week 7 after opening the season 4-2 with Justin Fields under center.
The 2-5 Jets travel to New England to take on the Patriots in Week 8. The team hopes to have pass rusher Haason Reddick back for that game after he ended his season-long holdout.
