Steelers Now
With time ticking down in the first half of the Pittsburgh Steelers’ primetime matchup on Sunday night, NBC broadcasters Cris Collinsworth and Mike Tirico talked about Aaron Rodgers’ deep-ball ability.
Rather than heave one as far as his 41-year-old arm would allow, Rodgers and the Steelers offense played it safe and walked into the break down 12-3 to the host Los Angeles Chargers.
Through the first two quarters, Rodgers had gone 7 for 14 for 64 yards and an interception. He was also sacked for a safety in the first quarter.
With a dozen seconds to go in the second frame, Tirico wondered if the Steelers’ attack would try to set Chris Boswell up for a long-range field goal. From his own 35-yard line on first down, Rodgers tried hitting Roman Wilson on an intermediate crosser, which former Steelers cornerback Donte Jackson nearly picked off. Rodgers overshot DK Metcalf and was intercepted by R.J. Mickens on the Steelers’ previous possession.
“We’re down to one second left, and the man who’s thrown more than a few magical Hail Marys might be throwing it as far as he can here,” Tirico said.
“Even for Aaron, that’s a long one,” Collinsworth said. “You know what’s weird, Mike, is that we’re now down to the point where we’re seeing Aaron do what he does best — which is escape and move around the pocket — but they’re not hitting the plays when he’s doing that, which is really unusual. His numbers are really good when he’s dancing around like that this season.”
Rodgers fired one Calvin Austin III’s way on a slant on second-and-10, but it bonked off the receiver’s hands. Following a Bolts timeout, Rodgers zipped a screen to Wilson, who stepped out of bounds eight yards later.
This article originally appeared on Steelers Now: Aaron Rodgers Turns In Awful First Half vs. Chargers
