Aaron Rodgers didn't start a game his first three seasons in the NFL, but did have the opportunity to throw one touchdown pass.
It was in his third season, in relief of starter Brett Favre, when Rodgers connected with Greg Jennings for an 11-yard score during a Packers loss to the Cowboys.
It wasn't too meaningful, of course not nearly as impactful as the two touchdown passes Rodgers threw to Jennings in Super Bowl XLV, but it was the first of 507.
Rodgers, the Steelers' new quarterback at age 41, stands on the precipice of tying Favre for fourth place on the all-time TD pass list. Rodgers needs one more to tie Favre, two to pass him into fourth place behind Tom Brady (649), Drew Brees (571), and Peyton Manning (539).
Rodgers, though, said the achievement wouldn't be marked by a celebration.
"It's just a longevity achievement," he said. "Some touchdowns, you make exceptional plays. Some, the scheme is so good, like the one to Jaylen (Warren) in the game. All I've got to do is not screw it up. And then sometimes you throw a short one to a guy and he goes 60 and it goes in the column all the same. So there've been a lot of guys involved in that, including the guys blocking, the guys calling the plays. Every now and then, I made some special throws that led to touchdowns, but I've been playing a long time. It's a longevity thing that, you know, I'm proud of, but it's not a big deal."
Rodgers threw 4 TD passes last Sunday in leading the Steelers to a 34-32 win over the New York Jets. It was the most TD passes in one game by a Steelers QB making his debut, and the most by any player in the NFL during the past opening weekend.
Going back to last season's regular-season finale with the Jets, Rodgers is riding a two-game streak of throwing 4 TD passes in a game. It's the fourth time he's had such productive back-to-back games, but he's never done it in three consecutive games.
While Rodgers threw TD passes to four different receivers (Ben Skowronek, Jonnu Smith, Warren, Calvin Austin), he didn't throw one to his camp roommate and the receiver he calls "the lead dog," DK Metcalf.
The Steelers and Metcalf are playing his former team, the Seattle Seahawks, on Sunday. Metcalf begs that it's not a bigger game to him than any other, but Rodgers has a keen eye for such details.
"DK made two of the bigger plays in the game," Rodgers said of Metcalf's 4-for-83 performance against the Jets. "DK played how he plays in practice. The best players can make practice like a game environment, so the game was not too big. I thought he had a nice game."
Rodgers mentioned after the Jets game that Metcalf had sent him text messages during the previous week regarding the Jets. And on Monday, the day after the game, Rodgers and Metcalf were in focused conversation in the locker room during media hour.
"He cares about it," Rodgers said. "He cares about it enough to watch the film, to put in the time, to take notes, ask questions, come over and sit next to me during the week at various times to try and get on the same page, so I love it. That's unfortunately not the standard around the league. Now, it was a lot of times in Green Bay, because those guys kind of saw what it was like with Jordy Nelson, and then Randall Cobb, James Jones, and Davonte (Adams) got to watch that. He was the next guy in line. So there's a way of going about it. But when you're the lead dog in the room, and also a great guy who prepares the right way, it makes it easy for the rest of the room to follow his lead."
Perhaps even follow Metcalf's lead all the way to TD pass No. 508, and beyond.
