On Sunday afternoon, the Pittsburgh Steelers hit the road for their first game of the 2025 season against the New York Jets. The game marked the return of quarterback Aaron Rodgers, who signed with the Steelers this offseason, to New York, where he spent the last two seasons, which both went disastrously, albeit for different reasons.

The crowd at MetLife Stadium on Sunday wasn't expected to be particularly welcoming to Rodgers for his return, but even Rodgers likely couldn't have predicted just how hostile the environment would be.

“Big time boos for Aaron Rodgers as he takes the field at MetLife Stadium,” reported Mike Garafolo of the NFL Network on X, formerly Twitter.

However, Rodgers quickly shut down that vitriol with an opening drive touchdown to Ben Skowronek that quickly silenced the boos, at least temporarily.

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Funnily enough, the Steelers didn't have a single opening drive touchdown during the entirety of the 2024-25 season last year, when it was Russell Wilson and current Jets quarterback Justin Fields running the show.

Rodgers clearly wasted no time in getting that monkey off the team's back.

While Rodgers is clearly not the same player that he was during the prime years of his career with the Green Bay Packers, he still showed off some considerable arm talent down the stretch of last season with New York, which was enough to convince the Steelers to sign him on what was essentially a one-year rental this offseason.

Offense and quarterback play in particular have been huge issues for the Steelers for the better part of the last decade, consistently limiting the team's ceiling even as they continue to trot out elite defenses year after year.

Fans will be hoping that this is the year the two sides of the ball finally meld together to form a real contender in the AFC.