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Aaron Rodgers has yet to take a snap in a game in a Pittsburgh Steelers uniform, but the veteran quarterback is already setting the tone.
During a recent appearance on Steelers defensive lineman Cam Heyward’s “Not Just Football” podcast, Rodgers spoke about how he reacted to seeing fellow quarterback Skylar Thompson take a hit and get knocked down during the early portion of training camp.
“And one thing, one really important moment, Skylar got knocked down early in camp. And I walked out there like, ‘What the hell just happened?’ I looked back and nobody was walking out there. And I told the line, ‘Don’t you ever let that happen again,’” Rodgers said.
Rodgers added that he instructed the linemen to embody the role of “policemen” whenever they take the football field.
“I said, ‘We gotta protect each other. And you guys are the policemen out there on the field. You’re the big brothers out there. You protect everybody from DK [Metcalf] to me to whoever’s in there (at) quarterback or whoever’s in there (at) running back. I don’t care if it’s preseason practice, whatever. You gotta protect them.”
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Rodgers suggested he realized his message resonated with the offensive line after he watched another situation unfold several days later.
“The next time something happened about a week later, Zach [Frazier] was in there. Pat [Freiermuth] was in there,” Rodgers said. “If Zach’s in there, you know Mason [McCormick’s] in there. And then I saw Troy [Fautanu] going in there. And then Spencer [Anderson]. I was like, ‘That’s what it looks like.’ And I’m not talking about instigating fights. I’m just talking about backing your brothers up.”
On Monday, Steelers left tackle Broderick Jones offered details about what he’s experienced having Rodgers as a teammate. “It’s a love/hate relationship at the same time. Because sometimes he’s playing, but not everybody’s on the same page,” he explained.
Jones also acknowledged the vast NFL experience Rodgers brings and praised the four-time league MVP for having “a good sense of who he is.”
“But it’s also good to have that bond within to have the understanding, ‘OK, he’s a vet. I know everything, let me make sure everybody else is good and then we carry on with whatever is going on, whatever the situation was.’ Just things like that. But I feel like he has a good sense of who he is and who we’re trying to be and getting us where we’re trying to go.”
he Steelers play their final preseason game of the year on Thursday night against the Carolina Panthers. Rodgers and the Steelers will open their regular season on Sept. 7 against his former team, the New York Jets.
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