Why does Aaron Rodgers take such a vested interest in developing his wide receivers?
Seems obvious. But, it is "part of leadership," as Rodgers explained after discussing the improvements made recently by Roman Wilson.
The second-year receiver caught his first NFL touchdown pass last Sunday night during a career-high 4-catch, 74-yard performance against the Green Bay Packers. Wilson's offensive output led all Steelers that night.
Rodgers said he sensed a big game coming from Wilson the previous week.
"I told him last Wednesday, 'It's going to be your week this week,' just kind of a feeling," Rodgers said. "And then Thursday he had his best practice of the season. Even in that, there were still three or four real coachable moments. So, I told Ro, I've liked him since the first time we got to know each other out in Malibu, and I told him back then 'I'm going to coach you to your potential and not to what I'm seeing.' So, I'm going to hold him to a high standard, and I was really proud of him in the game for the couple of reaction plays that he made. We just need to see consistency from him.
"But it starts in practice, and I thought Thursday was a really good practice for him, and today he had another nice practice."
Rodgers passed deep to Wilson early against the Packers. The two combined for an impromptu ("reaction") 45-yard reception on a third-and-3 play that flipped the field on the Steelers' first possession. A penalty and sack caused the Steelers to settle for a field goal, but Wilson put the ball in the end zone in the fourth quarter with a nifty catch of a 21-yard Rodgers laser in the end zone.
Rodgers said he doesn't like to throw to receivers who "I haven't seen consistently make the plays I'm expecting him to make." And that's why seeing Wilson last week enjoying his best practice gave the QB such confidence.
What does Rodgers believe constitutes a good practice?
"Every play is watched from practice, so it's the attention to detail on the routes," he said. "I think that's sometimes lost. You might, even in a game situation, get so enamored with what a guy's doing, who's around the ball, getting targeted, but a lot of times things that happen in the succeeding weeks are because of things you've seen on film, on the backside of plays where a guy's not getting the ball, and you see the detail in the craft in the routes.
"The other day, he got the ball, on Thursday, on a number of plays and that was positive. But, there were some other routes on the backside when he didn't get the ball where you started to see some of the craft show up, some of the detail in the routes that gives you confidence that you can trust. And so that's what it is. Also, there were some correctable things.
"But I really like his attitude. I think of all the guys who we expected to make an impact starting the season – especially him and Pat (Freiermuth) – and not get off to the most explosive starts, but to never once have a negative day – energy-wise, attitude-wise – is a credit to both of those guys. I'm really proud of both of them."
After a slow start, Wilson's 4-74-1 day against the Packers gave him 8 catches for 110 yards and the touchdown as the 2024 third-round pick gains steam this season.
Does Rodgers have similar words of wisdom for a team that finds itself in a two-game funk?
"You've got to stay the course," Rodgers said. "We lost a tough one in Cincy on a short week, and (then) we played a good football team and had many chances to get things going. We were up 16-7 at half, our defense playing well. Offensively, we've done a good job ending some halves with points, but I'm not sure we scored on the first possession of the second half, and when you're deferring and you're expecting to have a chance to double up, so to speak, that's what changes the game, the middle eight of the game. We haven't played well in the second four."
