The Pittsburgh Steelers looked flat on both sides of the ball against the Cleveland Browns in their 27-24 loss... and nobody should have been surprised. Since the NFL merger, the Steelers are 3-17 all-time on Thursday road games, and they are now 0-10 on road Thursday Night Football games against AFC North opponents.
We expected a slopfest in this setting. But despite their struggles, Pittsburgh had a chance to pull off a comeback win. Sadly, Aaron Rodgers' biggest weakness just got exposed in the national spotlight.
It's not that Rodgers was entirely to blame for the loss. The Steelers' defense had a dreadful second quarter in which they allowed 21 unanswered points. The defense couldn't tackle, and the secondary was lousy in coverage.
However, Rodgers proved to every football fan in the nation that he has nothing left when it comes to pocket presence and mobility to avoid pressure.
Aaron Rodgers will limit the Pittsburgh Steelers' offense in his final season as his pocket mobility has vanished
Despite some beautiful pockets in the first half, Rodgers routinely held the ball too long, and when the pressure came, he didn't have the legs to escape the rush. This happened on multiple occasions.
As a result, Rodgers took some big hits and unnecessary sacks. By the end of the game, Rodgers was sacked five times for minus 30 yards, per ESPN stats. Meanwhile, the 42-year-old quarterback made a number of questionable decisions and delivered inaccurate passes under pressure.
I won't say that Rodgers was bad in every department. Credit the aging QB for making some big plays downfield to DK Metcalf and threading the needle between defenders for the Darnell Washington touchdown. Rodgers put up 299 yards and three scores in this game. However, his raw numbers were a bit inflated and didn't tell the whole story.
Though this looks respectable on the surface. Rodgers dropped back to throw 45 times in this game (40 pass attempts and five sacks taken). Yet he completed just 22 passes (55 percent) at 7.5 yards per attempt. His biggest play of the game was a 49-yard pass to Roman Wilson, who chewed up yards after the catch.
Rodgers also threw a pair of interceptions in this contest while recording an underwhelming 83.2 passer rating. But even with all of the errant passes, it was his inability to maneuver within the pocket that was most egregious in this game.
The rest of his offense isn't without blame. The offensive line allowed a handful of quick pressures in this contest, and his receivers may not have been getting open (we'll have to check the coaches' tape to see what was going on there).
This was a collectively ugly effort by the Steelers, and the defense deserves as much blame as anyone. However, Aaron Rodgers just showed the world that he's a limited football player who can be easily flustered under pressure, and that he can't escape the rush. His lack of functional mobility is going to greatly limit the Pittsburgh Steelers' offense this season.
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