Steelers Now
PITTSBURGH — Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Aaron Rodgers has noticed big improvements from second-year receiver Roman Wilson. He had a feeling that the former Michigan Wolverine was going to have a big game last Sunday night.
Wilson had his first career touchdown reception in Sunday night’s loss to the Green Bay Packers. He also had a 45-yard reception on the first drive.
“I told him last Wednesday, ‘It’s going to be your week this week,’ just kind of a feeling,” Rodgers said on Wednesday. “And then Thursday he had his best practice of the season. Even in that, there were still three or four real coachable moments. So, I told Ro, I’ve liked him since the first time we got to know each other out in Malibu, and I told him back then ‘I’m going to coach you to your potential and not to what I’m seeing.’ So, I’m going to hold him to a high standard, and I was really proud of him in the game for the couple of reaction plays that he made. We just need to see consistency from him.
“But it starts in practice, and I thought Thursday was a really good practice for him, and today he had another nice practice.”
Rodgers, who’s a self-described perfectionist, said he doesn’t like to throw to receivers who “I haven’t seen consistently make the plays I’m expecting him to make.” That’s why Wilson’s strides in practice gave him confidence.
“Every play is watched from practice, so it’s the attention to detail on the routes,” he said. “I think that’s sometimes lost. You might, even in a game situation, get so enamored with what a guy’s doing, who’s around the ball, getting targeted, but a lot of times things that happen in the succeeding weeks are because of things you’ve seen on film, on the backside of plays where a guy’s not getting the ball, and you see the detail in the craft in the routes.
“The other day, he got the ball, on Thursday, on a number of plays and that was positive. But, there were some other routes on the backside when he didn’t get the ball where you started to see some of the craft show up, some of the detail in the routes that gives you confidence that you can trust. And so that’s what it is. Also, there were some correctable things.
“But I really like his attitude. I think of all the guys who we expected to make an impact starting the season – especially him and Pat (Freiermuth) – and not get off to the most explosive starts, but to never once have a negative day – energy-wise, attitude-wise – is a credit to both of those guys. I’m really proud of both of them.”
Alan Saunders provided reporting from Pittsburgh.
This article originally appeared on Steelers Now: Roman Wilson Receives Ringing Endorsement from Aaron Rodgers
