“Jordan Love ain’t Rodgers” – Rex Ryan predicts Steelers defense will expose Packers QB
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Pittsburgh for us this morning. Jeff, what are you hearing ahead of this matchup tonight? Well, Greeny, we’re going to talk about Aaron Rogers all morning. We have more coming on that. But right now, let’s talk about another quarterback in Jordan Love who’s playing some of the best football in his career right now. I was texting with head coach Matt Laflur last night. I asked him what his favorite thing about Jordan Love is right now. And he said, “My favorite thing is how he is so consistent whether things are going well or not. Everyone loves him.” him. And I think that that is important to point out right now coming into this big moment for Love because he is expected to handle what will be an emotional night for both sides with that same consistency that has allowed him to get to this point. At the end of the day, this is still two teams at top their division playing for very important stakes. Now, uh the good news for Love in this game is that he’s going to have wide receiver Christian Watson back. This will be Watson’s first game playing since he tore his ACL in week 18 of last season. So, a big plus for this offense. And we could talk about these quarterbacks all day, but TJ Watt for the Steelers said the key to this game after giving up 142 yards in the Steelers loss 10 days ago will not be necessarily about the passing as he said it will be stop the run. Stop the run. Stop the run. Greeny. All right. And we’re looking forward to it, Jeff. We’ll have more from you all day long as we look ahead to this matchup. You get one of these every now and again. The legendary quarterback going up against his longtime former team again. 18 years in Green Bay. What are we going to find out? Well, I I it’s great all the comments going on this week. It’s all love with Aaron Rogers and Jordan Love. But I guess today we’ll finally we’ll find out see if Aaron Rogers take thing personally. You think it’s an imput to take things personally? Yeah. And because he wants to absolutely shred these guys. I mean this they’re so buttoned up. They’re so buttoned up. Like like I love Aaron. You’re buttoned up in front of the mic, but when deep down inside you know you remember and you know what happened and absolutely he take thing he takes things personal and he wants to welcome Green Bay, shake the hands and then absolutely shred them come game time. You know, I look at a guy like Jordan Love coming into this game and and you know, being able to look like Aaron. You know, when Jordan Love took over, when Aaron left a couple years ago, it was the play action. You know, being able to deliver to balls to different guy footballs to different guys. And I think that that has what’s been on display for Jordan Love with a with Aaron being gone cuz everybody was sitting up here asking the question, what is the Green Bay offense going to look like now to Aaron Rogers gone? We didn’t know what we were getting out of Jordan Love. But one thing about it, you talked about being able to learn from a guy like Aaron Rogers. I expect a guy like Jordan Love to come out today with the play action. You heard him talking about stopping the run. Josh Jacobs has been a force. But I think that Jordan Love and that play action that those those two Josh Jacobs and the play action, they mirror together. It’s gonna be a big game. You know, you talk about that play action and you’re right, the emphasis for Pittsburgh. You even heard TJ Watt talk about stop the run, stop the run, stop the run. Well, that that’s should open up the the play action game and get separation for Jordan Love. And and look, Jordan Love has had made improvements. There’s no question. He’s doing a better job protecting the ball, but in big moments, that’s where he’s got to prove it to me. This game is going to be tight. I don’t I don’t know. And and look, I got to say this. Uh the I want to see these pass rushers, man. like two of the elite pass rushers in the league are going at it, right? TJ Watt against Micah Parsons, right? But TJ Watt has been missing in action, man. I’m just telling you. And one of the things I have a little clip of TJ Watt here, and as he’s going around, or maybe we don’t, but we’re we’re looking for it now. All right. But as he’s rushing a passer so many times, he’s such a playmaker, he stops. When his rush gets throttled, then he looks to get his hands up. All right. But what happens in that? You’re slowing your best pass rusher down. And so here’s an example of it right here. These are my my QB haters. So man, I’m watching this tape. But watch, he’s taking a little inside here. And immediately those hands go up. All right. No, now he checks the ball down. You’ve got to finish your rushes. Watch Michael Parsons on the other hand, he get he kind of gets stopped. All right. a little little uh hesitation but finishes his rush and gets a part of it. Nobody I’m telling you last week’s performance by Micah Parsons was one of the best I have ever seen. And so he is absolutely dominating. But my advice to TJ Watt is finish your rushes. Convert. You’re going to play that run. Convert the pass rush and finish. Don’t be a a a volleyball player. Let your teammates do that. Let your teammates contain the quarterback. You fire at that quarterback and finish. Micah Parsons, I can promise you, Al. Hey, I mean, Aaron Rogers better get it out in a hurry, Alex. The reality is that the Pittsburgh defense has not been holding up its end of the bargain. They were supposed to be carrying Aaron Rogers. Let’s not lose sight of the fact Rogers is playing extremely well. Yeah, it’s really been the strength of this team, Aaron and this offense. And I love your tea up there, Rex, about him getting the ball out early because you’re right, Mo has been unblockable. But a lot of this I loved how Aaron’s been putting his flavor on this Arthur Smith offense, especially in the run game. And it’s kind of this old man RPO I’d call it. Let me show you what I’m talking about on the tape. We’ve been watching Aaron do this for 20 years. He’s so good at it. Again, here a different kind of RPO, if you will. Again, they’re going to have run to the right here. Again, Aaron Rogers under center, which we haven’t seen a lot of. He knows the safety’s coming down. Look at the parking spot for it, right? And he knows backside. What does that mean? I got oneon-one. Run isn’t good. And again, he’s so good at flipping these balls out, right? Again, if you’re Micah Parson, it’s frustrating. One-on-one. This is a run. It’s nine yards on first down, right? Again, later in the game, here we are. We got another run to the right. And then again, watch. Here’s Micah right unblocked. And again, crafty old vet. He sees the linebacker sniffing in the back field. So, we’re going to flip this out to Fri, our tight end. And again, this is first down passing. And I want you to keep an eye on again, this is Micah, right? You’re unblocked on this play. He flipped it out. You just ran. You just ran 30 yards, right? Like you didn’t even get a chance to rush the passer. You got to line up the next play. And guess what? It’s probably happening. And again, he did this a dozen times in their last game. Again, this W, we’ve been watching it forever. Wy old Bett. He’s so good at doing this. Again, he’s not doing it with his legs, but again, so crafty at taking these advantage throws in the run game. I mean, they’re only averaging 3.9 yards a pass downfield with Aaron Rodgers this year. To your point, those things are coming out first, second down big time. You’re not just seeing all the deep throws by Aaron Rogers that were so uh frustrating for a Dline that’s trying to rush the pass. They could probably use another wide receiver as we Payton, thanks again for joining us. I want to ask you about the game tonight, you know, with Aaron Rodgers going against his longtime former team, the Green Bay Packers. You have such a unique perspective on this. Obviously, going against the Colts at the end of your career. What What is Can you tell us what this week’s been like for Aaron? What are the some of the things he’s going to be dealing with tonight? What was that experience like for you? Yeah, you could tell it’s been an emotional week already, Alex. And look, Alex, me, you, Randy, Rex, we know what it’s like to play for multiple teams. We can’t all play with the same team like Teddy, right? Teddy has an office there. He has his own locker there. This is real football. Look, Aaron is lucky the game is not in Green Bay. That’s the tough one. As you know, Alex, going back, seeing the stadium, being in the visitors locker room. The fact that it’s in Pittsburgh is a blessing for Aaron. But I loved his comments during the week that he is at peace with his time in Green Bay. He wants to retire there. I hate when former players kind of draw the line and make fans have to pick whose side are you on, the player side or the team side. Aaron Rogers will always be a Packer. I’m glad he’s having a great year in Pittsburgh. It’ll be an emotional game for him. pregame, shaking hands with the equipment manager, seeing his old video director.
