Reasons to be Excited About Aaron Rodgers

 I had options today! I was going to save this for tomorrow when there wasn't an NBA finals game to recap, but last night's game was super boring. Shout out to Shai for going off in his 15th 30 point game this post season, he's only played 18 games so far so that means he's scored 30 15 times and less than 30 only 3 times. What an incredible player man. Another guy to shout out is Aaron Wiggins, that guy would be a starter on almost every team in the league. He can do a little bit of everything on the court and the Thunder use him as basically their 7th or 8th man. Crazy how deep that team is. Even though the Thunder were up and in control the entire way last night, I still had to half pay attention until the very end given what Indiana has done this playoff run. A comeback did not happen this time though and as a result there's not much interesting to talk about there. 

Another thing I have to dedicate some time to is my girlfriend Puneet is making a decision today on which shoes she should buy and I promised her I'd state my opinion on here. I say that you're right the black ones are more versatile and can be worn both casually and formally, but the floral print ones made your eyes light up and I think you should go with that feeling. I never express myself through fashion, now's your chance to do just that, don't waste it!

He Was Pretty Good Last Year?

Alright look, I am not going to sit here and pretend like I watched a bunch of Jets games last season, I did not. I could comb through all my NFL posts and probably find some instances where I was talking down on Rodgers to be honest, but that's not what we're here for. Today is about building hope. Lets go over 2 QB performances from last year and see if you can guess who is who: 

QB1: 229 YPG, 63% completion %, 28 TDs, 11 INTs, 17 Games Played

QB2: 226 YPG, 64% completion %, 16 TDs, 5 INTs, 11 Games Played

QB1 is Aaron Rodgers and QB2 is Russell Wilson both last season. The Steelers made the playoffs with QB2's play and Rodgers had similar numbers but with a different style. Last year it was evident as soon as Pickens went down that Wilson had only 1 thing in his bag of tricks. He had a beautiful deep ball that was perfect for a contested catch maker in Pickens. Rogers plays more with the short pass utilizing the entire field more effectively than Wilson. Neither are exactly mobile QBs at this stage of their careers but Rodgers is a slightly better decision maker and more accurate short passer that I think should lend itself well to the offense. I am not expecting prime Aaron Rodgers, but if he gives a similar performance to last season, with the Steelers organizational stability, better pass protection and a better defense, that should result in another playoff run for the Steelers. 

The Jets Suck

How can you expect any QB to produce winning results with the NY Jets? For this analysis I will be comparing the Jets and Steelers QB situations and how each team has performed without a "franchise guy" leading the team. I'll then take a look at how the QBs in question performed on other teams after leaving the Jets or Steelers. This obviously isn't everything, there's a lot more that goes into winning than QB play, but it should give you an idea of what a functional franchise looks like vs a dysfunctional one. I am starting at 2019 for both teams. 2 games into 2019 Ben Roethlisberger needed Tommy John surgery on his elbow and was a shell of himself for his last 2 years with the team.  

Steelers QBs Since 2019:

Ben Roethlisberger, Kenny Pickett, Mason Rudolph, Russell Wilson, Mitchell Trubisky, Devlin Hodges, Justin Fields

Jets QBs Since 2019:

Zach Wilson, Sam Darnold, Aaron Rodgers, Joe Flacco, Mike White, Trevor Siemian, Luke Falk, Tim Boyle

Here's a summary of these QBs' performances since 2019:

Here's a summary of how these QBs performed after leaving the Steelers/Jets:

This analysis obviously ignores a good deal of context, but to me it reads like this. Since 2019 the Steelers started QBs that the NFL deemed only worthy to start 6 more games in their entire careers. The Jets started QBs that the NFL deemed worthy to start 51 more games in their careers. With the Jets the QBs that went on to start elsewhere performed better in both their records and performances as passers as evidenced by the big passer rating boost. Despite each team having below average QB play, the Steelers had a winning record throughout and the Jets had a terrible record. I am not ready to say that getting out of New York is enough to boost your play as a QB, but since 2019 that's literally been the case so believe what you will. 

Screw it, It's Going to Be Fun

This is a legend of the game who has a big personality. He's a bit of a moron, but the Steelers don't pay him for his political views. No matter what happens this season it's going to be dramatic and fun. As much as Steelers fans might have wanted to see Mason Rudolph running out there, it's obvious that Aaron Rodgers gives them the best chance at winning this season. If that's wrong and he doesn't, at least we'll get a dramatic show throughout the season which can be just as entertaining. Try not to take it all so seriously. The Steelers are in no-mans land when it comes to QBs right now, lets just cheer for whichever guy is here because it may be a while before we land on the next big thing in Pittsburgh. 

That is that! Puneet if you made it this far congrats, there were a lot of stats in there that I know probably put you to sleep. Buy the shoes, don't be a worrywart!