Thanks to their 23-9 victory over the Cleveland Browns on Sunday at Acrisure Stadium, the Steelers are 4-1 and sitting atop the AFC North. They have a 3-and-a-half game lead over the preseason favorite to win the division, and a 2-and-a-half game lead over the team that has won the division twice in the last 4 seasons. They have been improving steadily during the first six weeks of this particular season, and their offense is not just along for the ride for the first time since Ben Roethlisberger retired.
None of the above would be true if not for Aaron Rodgers.
In the win over the Browns, Rodgers completed 21-of-30 (70 percent) for 235 yards, with 2 touchdowns, 0 interceptions, and a rating of 115.3. But as I’ve written previously pertaining to Aaron Rodgers, it goes beyond the numbers. That’s because there are no strict statistical measurements for how he handled a Browns defense that arrived with enough bonafides to justify its reputation as one of the best defenses — if not the best — in the league so far in 2025.
To put some numbers to that, the Browns came into the game ranked first in the NFL in total yards passing allowed, first in rushing yards per game allowed, and fourth in average gain per rush. They were fourth in sacks per pass attempt, and second in first downs allowed per game. Also, the coordinator of that unit is Jim Schwartz, who is experienced and successful and savvy.
“Schwartz has been around a long time, and that guy does a great job of working to play to their strengths and to cover up potential weaknesses that all units have,” said Coach Mike Tomlin on the Tuesday before the game. “You see that in his schematics. He’s thoughtfully aggressive. You feel game planning. He caters to his plan week to week based on the things that opponents do. He’s capable of going big with five defensive linemen vs. run games that he respects. I saw a lot of that vs. Baltimore. He’s multiple in terms of dime packages and so forth against teams that throw the ball around I lot. I saw a lot of that vs. Cincinnati.”
Which is why Schwartz is near the top in his field, as also can be said about the challenge posed to this offense by Minnesota’s Brian Flores on the other side of last weekend’s bye. The advantage for the Steelers in both of those situations was that Schwartz and Flores had to deal with Rodgers on the way to success, because he’s as good as there currently is in the league at finding the weaknesses that every defensive unit has had since the sport was invented.
Rodgers knows the principles of NFL offense in general and the Steelers offense in particular to a level where he never has had to wear one of those wristband cheat-cheats during his time here. Add in an ability to recognize and diagnose defenses that he’s developed and honed over 21 NFL seasons, then top it off with a quick release to go along with an accurate arm, and the Steelers have themselves a quarterback who can correct mistakes before they happen or simply dissuade opposing defensive coordinators from trying to be too creative in the effort to force those mistakes.
“I think his reputation for (utilizing cadence and going late into the play clock before snapping the ball) was the most help,” said Coach Mike Tomlin about how the offense was able to succeed vs. Flores’ defense in a 24-21 victory over the Vikings. “I think schematically, Coach Flores was less aggressive than he normally is. And no question that ability of Aaron’s was one of the core reasons why. Aaron has a reputation for handling a lot of things at the line of scrimmage, for weaponizing cadence, for getting in and out of plays and so forth. And I think largely Coach Flores didn’t want to test that, and so he was less schematically aggressive than many weeks that you see his units perform.”
Against the Browns, the challenge of Schwartz’s unit was that it is stingy against the run, which creates situations where it can unleash pressure packages that either get the passer on the ground or create mistakes that end in turnovers or force a punt to get his unit off the field.
Rodgers did not get sacked, and his ability to diagnose and get the ball out quickly and on target left the Browns’ sack total at zero, their hits on the quarterback at 3, their pass breakups at 3, and their takeaways at zero. In the meantime, he was completing 70 percent with touchdown passes of 12 and 25 yards, directing the offense to points on 5 of its 8 non-take-a-knee possessions with a 6th ending in a missed field goal. Chris Waitman punted twice, and only one of those came after a three-and-out. That’s because Rodgers has the ability to “operate on time.”
“He moves with great fluidity through his progression, sometimes deciphering components of the progression prior to the snap, prior to getting the ball in his hands,” said Tomlin. “And all of that leads to fluidity in operation time. He gets the ball out quick. There’s a thing that we call in this business – TTT – time to throw. His time to throw is elite, and usually it means his ability to process defense and then deliver the ball and deliver the ball to the correct target. And it’s not only about pure progression for him. It’s his ability to eliminate potential throws or options prior to even the ball being snapped, because he just is great at gathering information in a variety of ways.”
Certainly, Rodgers isn’t winning these games himself, because he works in tandem with a pretty dynamic defensive unit in its own right. The Steelers came into the game ranked second in the NFL in sacks per pass play and had 14 sacks and 10 takeaways in 4 games. And they got after rookie QB Dillon Gabriel to the tune of 6 sacks and 16 hits on the quarterback, but for the first time this season there were no takeaways. And too many penalties.
There were several near-misses on interceptions but no short fields provided to the offense. Of their 8 non-take-a-knee possessions, 7 began inside their own 30-yard line. Without Aaron Rodgers, the Oct. 12 version of Steelers vs. Browns likely plays out as one of those typical, ugly, suspenseful AFC North rock fights with an outcome that could turn on the game’s final snap.
But the difference between 3 field goals apiece heading into the final snaps of the ball, the Steelers had a 2-score lead because Rodgers completed 4-of-6 for 43 yards and a 12-yard touchdown pass to Connor Heyward on a 10-play, 79-yard drive, and then on the next possession he completed 3-of-3 for 51 yards and a 25-yard touchdown pass to DK Metcalf on a 7-play, 72-yard drive.
Maybe without Rodgers the Steelers get from 9-9 to a victory over what was a 1-4 Browns team starting a rookie quarterback. But maybe they don’t. I have seen these kinds of games end both ways. But what holds such promise for the rest of this season is that in 2025 they don’t always have to try.
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