Aaron Rodgers is all set to face his former team, the Green Bay Packers, for the first time in his career. After two forgettable years in New York, Rodgers is now with the Pittsburgh Steelers. And he will take on his old team, with whom he played from 2005 to 2022, at his new home, Acrisure Stadium. Jon Gruden believes the veteran QB will dig deep into his old bag of tricks this Sunday.
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While breaking down the upcoming matchup on his Barstool YouTube channel, Gruden couldn’t stop raving about Rodgers’ signature hard count, arguably one of the deadliest weapons in his arsenal. It’s a trick designed to throw defenses off rhythm, baiting them into jumping early and giving Rodgers a shot at a free play.
And only a few have mastered it like Rodgers. Since 2006, he’s thrown 84 passes on free plays, the most by any quarterback in the league, racking up nearly 2,000 downfield air yards. Keeping those numbers in mind, Gruden warned that the young Packers pass rush could be in for a rude awakening this week.
“Who’s got the best hard count probably in NFL history? Aaron Rodgers. I can just hear him [say], ‘Green 18 … Green 18 … AHHH.’ He does a lot of stuff [before the snap],” Gruden said.
“‘We’re good … We’re good … AHH,’ He just does a hell of a job. He’s going to try to get this young pass rush offside, and he’s going to take some shots, man. And it hurt Green Bay last week. They better get their act together. Otherwise, they’re going to be in trouble against Rodgers’ snap count,” added the former head coach.
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Indeed, the Packers were flagged for multiple pre-snap penalties last week, getting hit a total of 10 times for 94 yards against the Arizona Cardinals. There were other penalties as well. You can bet Rodgers is probably rubbing his hands together right now, already scheming how to take advantage of that.
We’ve seen what he can do with free plays before, too. Back in 2017, the then-Packer pulled off his first overtime win against the Bengals after burning their defense deep on a free play. Defensive end Michael Johnson jumped offside, giving Rodgers the green light to launch a 40-yard dime that set up more yardage and eventually the win.
Two years before that, Rodgers connected with James Jones not once, but twice on free plays. The Packers better brace themselves this time.
As for Gruden, he’s rolling with the Steelers to come out on top this Sunday. He even predicted a 30-23 final score. Whether he’s right or not, this matchup is shaping up to be one worth clearing your Sunday schedule for.
