Aaron Rodgers seemingly threw one of his teammates, Jonnu Smith, under the bus following the Pittsburgh Steelers’ 26-7 loss to the Buffalo Bills. “When there’s film sessions, everybody shows up. When I check to a route, you do the right route. Jonnu [Smith] and I weren’t on the same page,” the QB said, referring to a costly misroute.
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After Rodgers’ comments, fans started ripping the veteran QB, saying he was playing the blame game instead of taking accountability. Many noted that Rodgers has done similar things time and again. However, Emmanuel Acho says Rodgers wasn’t throwing his teammate under the bus and was simply stating the truth.
Sunday was a tough day for the veteran QB and his Steelers. They took a 7-3 lead into halftime but were shut out 23-0 in the second half. The team now falls to 6-6 and sits outside the playoff picture. The misroute that fell incomplete, however, would have resulted in an easy TD and could have even changed the outcome of the game.
That’s why Acho took the time to highlight why Rodgers shouldn’t be blamed for the team’s collapse.
“We want to blame Aaron Rodgers as the biggest reason for the Steelers’ downfall. Can’t do it, won’t do it, and the film suggests it’s a lie,” Acho began his rant session on Twitter.
The former NFL veteran thoroughly went through the play in question. During his review, he pointed out that Rodgers clearly signaled to Smith to run a specific route to the middle of the field. But the tight end missed the signal and stuck to his original route design, leading to the botched play.
If you’re simply blaming Aaron Rodgers, you’re wrong, no other way around it… #AchoAnalysis| @speakeasytlkshw| #SteelersNation pic.twitter.com/S654eNZTyl
— Emmanuel Acho (@EmmanuelAcho) December 2, 2025
It was a great explanation of how much goes into a play call, more than some may realize. Rodgers correctly read the defense, identifying that the safety would double-team DK Metcalf down the sideline, and signaled for Smith to break into the middle of the field, where the space would be open. If Smith had read the signal correctly, it would have resulted in a TD.
It’s not like the score would’ve mattered too much. The Steelers were already down big when the blunder occurred. They probably would’ve lost anyway, but just by a more respectable amount.
Regardless, it only adds to the intense scrutiny that the Steelers and Mike Tomlin are under right now. The NFL’s longest tenured head coach is in serious jeopardy of losing his job after the season, depending on how things finish. The schedule even suggests that his non-losing season streak could be in jeopardy as well.
All in all, the Rodgers signing has sort of crashed and burned for the Steelers this year, but that was somewhat expected. At 41, nobody expected him to be an MVP-caliber QB that he once was, and most viewed the signing as Pittsburgh’s only option. It was either sign Rodgers or go into the season with Mason Rudolph as the starter.
At least the Steelers tried, and the season still isn’t over. There’s time to prove that the Rodgers signing wasn’t a waste of time and money. But it’s going to take some gutsy wins down the stretch to get there.
