Pride of Detroit
The Detroit Lions are staring down this final stretch of games with the playoffs still within reach. It’s not totally in their hands, but there’s still a realistic chance of them making the postseason, and that all starts with a pivotal matchup against the Pittsburgh Steelers—and an all-too-familiar Ghost of Christmas Past.
This week, we had the pleasure of connecting with Ryland Bickley, Assistant Manager for Behind the Steel Curtain, to give us some insight into this Steelers team. We learned about who castoff Aaron Rodgers is at this point in his NFL career, how a position change Pittsburgh made with a star defensive back has yielded productive results, and how their strategy when it comes to pass rush might look pretty different given their rash of injuries over the past couple of weeks—and more!
It’s been a few years since the Lions last faced off against Aaron Rodgers, so how would you best describe what he brings to an NFL offense in the year 2025?
The answer to that question has fluctuated over the course of the season. Rodgers started off strong, regressed in a big way midseason, and over the last two weeks has switched back to playing winning football.
To be fair, Rodgers’ down games largely correlated with him dealing with wrist and finger injuries. Now that he’s healthy, he’s back to looking like a starting NFL quarterback.
Rodgers’ arm isn’t what it used to be, but he can still generate high-level velocity when fitting throws into tight windows in the short and intermediate passing game. His mobility has obviously lessened with age, but he’s looked less skittish in the pocket as of late even if his last two games have been against subpar pass rushes. Still, if he can’t get a throw off early against pressure, he hasn’t been the sharpest when extending plays.
Where Rodgers hasn’t lost a step is his mental game, and he displayed that in Pittsburgh’s most recent win over the Dolphins, catching Miami with 12 defenders on the field a solid minute before the referees realized.
Pittsburgh has recently added the veterans Marquez Valdes-Scantling and Adam Thielen to the receiving core, and the result has been Rodgers looking more comfortable with pass catchers he can trust. He also started completing more middle of the field passes—a big development—against the Dolphins, which further opened up the offense.
This is far from a dynamic passing game. But Rodgers has been getting the job done in recent weeks.
The Steelers made the move to acquire DK Metcalf this offseason–and also move on from George Pickens. Has Metcalf shown to be a No. 1 guy for this offense, and what other pass-catchers are making an impact for this Steelers team?
*Metcalf isn’t a complete No. 1 wide receiver, and he hasn’t been consistently producing like one, but that’s largely been the fault of an offense that hasn’t always been able to feed him the ball. When he’s been given opportunities, Metcalf has proven he still...
