Credit Mike McCarthy and the Pittsburgh Steelers; they found a way to rally back and defeat the Tampa Bay Buccaneers after a dismal three quarters of offense in Week 6. Though it took an overtime touchdown to emerge victorious against the now 1-5 Bucs, the Steelers advanced to 4-2 and gained ground in the AFC North.
Unfortunately, Steelers fans have reason to worry about quarterback Aaron Rodgers all over again.
Before Week 6, Rodgers posted three touchdowns in three straight games, marking the first time he's done this since his MVP days with the Green Bay Packers. By the end of Sunday's outing against the Buccaneers, the 42-year-old quarterback finished with a pair of touchdowns and 253 passing yards.
But don't let the numbers fool you; Rodgers was downright bad for most of the game.
The Pittsburgh Steelers have an Aaron Rodgers problem that might only get worse
Rodgers is the perfect example of why it's so important to look beyond just the raw statistics (if you watched the game, you know what I'm talking about). While the numbers may look respectable on paper, the aging quarterback was awful on a per-play basis, and fans took to social media to let him have it.
Rodgers' 253-yard, two-touchdown performance came on a whopping 55 dropbacks. On these passing plays, Rodgers completed just 33 of 49 attempts for a mere 5.2 yards per pass, per ESPN stats. On the other six dropbacks, he was sacked five times for minus 42 yards while scrambling once for a negative one-yard carry.
When you count the net-negative yardage, Rodgers had just 210 yards on 55 dropbacks (3.8 yards per pass play). This is a despicable number. As a result of his inefficiency, Rodgers finished with -0.23 pass EPA per play in Week6, via Sumer Sports.
While not every sack taken was Rodgers' fault, the NFL's oldest quarterback showed a lack of mobility when escaping the pocket. Worse yet, Rodgers showed just how timid he was with the football. The aging veteran opted to check the ball down often, with 15 passes coming at or behind the line of scrimmage and a whopping 30 passes of five air yards or less, per Next Gen Stats.
This makes for a low-upside offense, as Rodgers barely looked to push the ball down the field. In fact, only five of Rodgers' 49 passes traveled farther than 10 yards.
The Steelers won't have many strong offensive showings the rest of the way if Rodgers keeps playing like this. Though the veteran deserves some credit for pulling it together late and helping his team close out the win with a fourth-quarter drive and an overtime touchdown, it was a poor performance overall.
Sadly, the Pittsburgh Steelers may only go as far as their quarterback will take them, and right now, they simply do not look like a playoff team. The Steelers need to get more consistency and more downfield aggressiveness from Rodgers if they want a chance to snap their playoff drought this year.
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