The Pittsburgh Steelers’ offense is navigating a dangerous tightrope early in the season, as high-risk passing situations and protection breakdowns at left tackle are putting 40-year-old quarterback Aaron Rodgers in physical harm's way.
Through two games, Pittsburgh’s inability to play as a cohesive unit has led to severe drops in quarterback performance in key situations. On a recent episode of the “Locked On Steelers” podcast, analyst Alan Saunders highlighted how early-down play selection is forcing Rodgers into uncomfortable passing downs.
"Aaron Rodgers has an 81 passer rating on first down, and that's not great, but it's 59 on third down," Saunders noted. "So, yeah, I think they throw more on first down."
When forced into third-and-long situations,
Rodgers’ execution has also faltered under pressure. Host Christopher Carter pointed to instances where Rodgers missed open options while forcing throws into coverage.
"Aaron Rodgers, I just felt that there were several plays where I thought that he didn't see what was available," Carter explained. "There was one play where he tried to force it to DK Metcalf when [Christian] Gonzalez was all over him. He had Roman Wilson wide open on the right side of the field."
Compounding those field-vision issues are severe pass-protection breakdowns along the edge. Left tackle Troy Fautanu has shown flashes of physical promise, but his catastrophic whiffs have exposed Rodgers to violent hits that threaten the team's entire season strategy.
"Look, if Troy Fautanu has another rep as bad as the one that, was it Christian Elliss, who breaks Rodgers in half, how many of those hits is Aaron Rodgers getting up from?" Saunders warned. "Right there, that could have been the season."
If head coach Mike McCarthy cannot scheme around these protection lapses and keep Rodgers out of third-and-long scenarios, the Steelers risk exposing their veteran quarterback to hits he simply cannot afford to take.
This article originally appeared on Steelers Wire: The shocking Steelers stat exposing Aaron Rodgers’ third-down woes
