Steelers quarterback Aaron Rodgers didn't toss four touchdown passes in Week 1 for the second year in a row, but in a way, he feels even better coming out of the 2026 opener than he did a season ago.
Despite that stellar performance against the Jets in his Steelers debut, he was dealing with back tightness at that time. For this go-round, Rodgers feels more like the "Benjamin Button" character he referenced down the stretch last year.
"I was a little smarter about my workouts leading up to this season," Rodgers explained Wednesday after practice. "But I feel really good. The legs feel good. I feel good moving around. And I feel like I'm just going to keep on getting better."
Now, that doesn't mean Rodgers isn't working at it. He described his 42-year-old self in a way that many reading this can relate to, even if you aren't exactly the same age as Rodgers.
"I think anybody over 35 realizes it's a little different when you wake up at 25 compared to 35," Rodgers grinned. "You might be rolling out of bed a little bit slower. That first foot hits the ground, you might be feeling something. I'm 42, so the body feels a little different."
As for the right arm, though?
"Arm feels great," Rodgers replied. "The arm feels fantastic."
That was evident against the Falcons, with Rodgers averaging 9.2 air yards per attempt — more than any game last season — and fitting the ball into a tight window on more than one occasion. Even Patriots coach Mike Vrabel made mention of that precision at his press conference Wednesday ahead of Sunday's matchup at New England.
Sometimes a quarterback has to trust his arm talent, but for the most part, Rodgers wants to make life easier on himself and his pass-catchers. Which is why he doesn't care about the target column on your stat sheet.
And he doesn't think his teammates do either.
"The ball goes to the open guy," Rodgers said. "Nobody in the locker room talks about their targets."
Rodgers knows not all receivers are created equal, and some command more looks their way than others. That whole even when they're covered, they're open sort of thing.
By and large, though, Rodgers just wants to operate within the flow of the offense, from the play call to the progressions to what the defense presents. Whomever winds up with the ball in his hands, so be it.
That's effectively why Vrabel was praising Rodgers from the podium in Foxborough. He was asked how difficult it is to fool Rodgers at the line of scrimmage.
"It is difficult," Vrabel said. "The risk outweighs the benefits when you're trying to disguise and show one thing, or show a coverage, but ultimately, you're out of position."
Vrabel acknowledged that Rodgers has seen every defensive look you can possibly throw at him at this point. And Rodgers probably has thrown completions against all of them at some point.
The pre-snap cadence is always a Rodgers weapon to use, too, and Vrabel referred back to when a hard count caused his defense to jump offsides on the very first play in this matchup last September — and the Patriots were at home.
"There's not a whole lot that can get me," Rodgers said. "But you spend a lot of time during the week on the pressure packages, and then you go into a game like last week, and they barely pressure. That's kind of the standard. But [Vrabel] has been more of a pressure guy. They pressured us more last year than most teams, so we'll expect pressure."
Hey, if the body feels fresh, the arm is working and the eyes are right, that's a great place to be in for any quarterback.
