Nobody saw a four-touchdown performance coming for Aaron Rodgers in his first game with the Pittsburgh Steelers. The 41-year-old quarterback signed with the team in the spring, and we assumed it was going to take time for Rodgers to develop chemistry with his wide receivers.
But despite seeing his first action with new pass-catchers and the inability of the offensive line to grant him the protection he needed to throw the ball down the field, Rodgers delivered.
Against the Jets in Week 1, Rodgers went off for 244 yards and four touchdowns while passing for 8.1 yards per attempt. This equated to a 136.7 passer rating. Now, Pittsburgh's offense gets another difficult task in Week 2, but one bold prediction suggests Rodgers will live up to the challenge.
Lou Scataglia of NFL Spin Zone recently wrote an article detailing one bold prediction in Week 2 for all 32 teams. For the Steelers, Scataglia predicted Rodgers would string together another miraculous four-touchdown performance.
"Aaron Rodgers was on fire in Week 1 against the New York Jets, and now he's rewarded a bit with his first home game as a Steeler," Scataglia wrote. "Vintage Aaron Rodgers will come out yet again, as he'll toss another four touchdowns and send the Seattle Seahawks to a lousy 0-2 record in their first year of the Sam Darnold era."
This would be quite the feat for a quarterback of any age, let alone a 21-year veteran like Rodgers.
Pittsburgh Steelers QB could make NFL media explode if bold prediction comes true
The likelihood of seeing a four-touchdown performance in the opening game of the season is difficult enough. Aaron Rodgers currently leads the league in passing touchdowns entering Week 2. But to repeat this would be an incredible accomplishment.
Regardless of how these scores come, putting up eight passing touchdowns in his first two games would be remarkable. This would be just two shy of the NFL record, held by Patrick Mahomes with 10. And for reference, eight passing touchdowns would be more than former Steelers quarterback Kenny Pickett was able to muster up in each of his first two seasons in the NFL.
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If Rodgers is able to pull this off, this means, by default, the Steelers would average over 30 points per game over their first two contest. While I would love nothing more than to see this, this bold prediction is unlikely.
The Steelers will host a tough Seattle Seahawks team on Sunday with a tough defense led by head coach Mike Macdonald and defensive coordinator Aden Durde. This unit managed to pressure 49ers quarterback Brock Purdy on a remarkable 57.9 percent of dropbacks in Week 1.
With the Steelers' offensive line coming off a poor performance against the Jets, it's hard to believe that Aaron Rodgers will have enough time to sling four touchdown passes. However, he's already done it once, despite the odds, and it's not impossible to do it again.