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Aaron Rodgers took a shot at the Jets in his post-game press conference after the Pittsburgh Steelers lost to the Houston Texans in the playoffs.
“There’s only a few very special places in the league that have the tradition, the town, the organization, and I’m thankful to have played for two of them,” Rodgers said.
He was obviously referring to Green Bay and Pittsburgh, and he left out the Jets.
You could perceive that as a shot at them, which most people have.
There is no doubt that Pittsburgh and Green Bay have the better traditions and are probably better football towns.
It’s not that the Jets don’t have great fans. They do. But in New York, the laser focus on one team doesn’t exist, with Jets fans, just like Giants fans, often splitting their emotions on the Yankees, Mets, Knicks, Rangers, Islanders, Devils, and so forth.
In Pittsburgh and Green Bay there is a single-mindedness of purpose for sports fans – it’s all about the Steelers and Packers.
In New York, the football teams don’t generate the same level of excitement because there is so much else happening.
However, I will take exception with Rodgers praising the Steelers as a special organization, because it’s hard to call an organization special when it has an average personnel department.
One of the reasons they flamed out in the first round was myriad player personnel issues that you won’t read about in the media, where the work of the GM is ignored.
The offensive line was bad in the Texans game, but it was also bad most of the year. Yes, the first-round offensive tackle, Broderick Jones, got hurt in the middle of the year, but they were bad with him. The Jets dominated him in Week 1.
The offensive line has been substandard all year, and that is one of the reasons Rodgers had the lowest yards per attempt this season of any starting QB.
The D.K. Metcalf trade was absurd. They traded for him and gave him a monster contract before they even knew who their QB would be. The Seattle Seahawks did the right thing. They decided they were not giving him another megadeal, because he’s a limited receiver, so they drafted Ohio State WR Jaxson Smith-Njiba, got him on a manageable rookie deal and traded Metcalf.
Metcalf is overrated. He has stiff hips, and does not change directions smoothly, so his route-tree is limited.
And since Rodgers needed quick wins from his receivers this year with the protection issues, this guy is not going to provide that because he has to gather to change directions due to his hip stiffness. In other words, he does not get quick wins.
He’s also a diva receiver, who needs the ball, something else that is not a good fit with Rodgers, who just wants to go through his progressions and hit the open man.
Also, the Steelers secondary was poorly constructed with too many speed-challenged players like Joey Porter, Jalen Ramsey, and Darius Slay (who was cut late in the season).
So bad offensive line play, bad secondary play and ill-advised Metcalf trade.
Oh, one other thing, two aging veterans, linebacker T.J. Watt and defensive tackle Cam Heyward, demanded new contracts this offseason and got them. You don’t overpay older players because they were “great Steelers” – you pay them for what they can do for you now.
Bill Belichick, during his magical run as New England Patriots coach, was the best at not letting sentimentality get in the way of personnel decisions.
Watt and Heyward are good players, but giving them both new contracts, just because they were great Steelers and demanded them, is now way to do business, especially in a cap sport, where you need to spread the money around.
So to me, if you are going to talk about the Steelers being a special place, perhaps we shouldn’t ignore the personnel blunders that led to a season where the team was somewhat average, won an average division, and flamed out in the playoffs.
January 13, 2026
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