Whereas he did not wish to focus on what was stated postgame between himself and Jordan Love, Aaron Rodgers was keen to share his feelings following Sunday evening’s loss to his former workforce.
Rodgers and the Steelers loved a stable begin that led to a 16-7 halftime lead. However the Packers flipped the script within the second half, as Love led the Packers on 5 scoring drives whereas finishing 20 straight passes.
“Disillusioned,” Rodgers said afterward. “Disillusioned I did not play higher, that we did not play higher, particularly within the second half.”
Self-discipline points, Rodgers stated, and third-down woes have been two of the largest points the Steelers’ offense had on Sunday evening.
Pittsburgh’s offense, which entered the weekend because the NFL’s eighth-ranked unit on third down, was simply 1 of 10 on changing in these conditions Sunday evening.
The Steelers’ early incapability to transform on third down prevented them from taking a fair larger halftime lead as they needed to accept three Chris Boswell discipline targets. Rodgers attributed among the third down points to getting behind the sticks early with both unfavorable performs or penalties. He additionally stated he may have been extra correct on possession downs.
The Steelers compounded the difficulty with a number of mindless penalties, particularly DK Metcalf’s eye poke of Packers linebacker Quay Walker that price the Steelers 15 yards.
“It isn’t our model of enterprise, and we will not reside like that,” Steelers coach Mike Tomlin said of his workforce’s pointless penalties.
Rodgers, who completed the evening with 219 yards and two touchdowns on 24 of 36 passing, pointed to the beginning of the second half as a key turning level within the recreation.
Pittsburgh bought the ball to begin the second half however was pressured to punt after it appeared that the Packers’ protection bought away with an offsides that if penalized would have given the Steelers a third-and-3 scenario. As a substitute, the Packers bought the ball and rapidly stole the sport’s momentum when Love hit Tucker Kraft on a 59-yard completion that arrange the primary of Inexperienced Bay’s 4 second-half touchdowns.
Talking of Love, Rodgers was clearly impressed with what he was on Sunday evening. Love, who turned the primary Packers quarterback since Brett Favre again in 2007 to finish 20 straight passes in a recreation, completed the evening with 360 yards and three touchdowns on 29 of 37 passing.
“He performed unbelievable,” Rodgers stated. “He is had a very nice season. He is been actually environment friendly with the soccer. He is opportunistic, although I felt like he was very affected person tonight. They took the run options. He took the verify downs, moved within the pocket effectively. Thought he performed very well.”
With regard to his feelings going up in opposition to his former workforce, Rodgers stated that it will have been significantly totally different had Sunday evening’s recreation been performed at Lambeau Subject. Sarcastically, there have been moments the place it appeared like the sport was being performed in Inexperienced Bay, as “Go Pack, Go!” chants could possibly be heard all through the sport and particularly within the second half.
“I’ve heard that chant for 18 years,” Rodgers stated. “Packer followers journey very well. First time shortly I’ve used silent rely for a house recreation. That is a credit score to these Packers followers.”
Rodgers took time this previous week to replicate on his embellished profession with the Packers. However after Sunday’s recreation, although, the 41-year-old, four-time league MVP was targeted on his present workforce and what they should do amid a two-game dropping streak and the 7-1 Colts coming to city subsequent Sunday.
“Properly, simply an trustworthy evaluation,” he stated. “I feel, setting emotions apart and being OK with criticism, any place, any participant, and being trustworthy about what we have to do to enhance. After which, we will not beat ourselves.
“I feel within the three losses, there’s been instances the place we have had alternatives and we have damage ourselves with both turnovers or simply unfavorable performs. So we have to chop these out. We have gotta get on the identical web page on each offense and protection, and preserve the religion.”
