Watch the full episode of the PackersRoundtable Podcast as Andrew Kulha, Anthony Moeglin and Evan Massey discuss the Green Bay Packers' epic win over Aaron Rodgers and the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Aaron Rodgers was saying all the right things all week long leading up to the Green Bay Packers' Week 8 win over the Pittsburgh Steelers on Sunday Night Football. The strange thing for most Packer fans, though, was that he was saying all the right things while wearing black and gold rather than green and gold.
Despite watching it happen in real time, and despite the fact that Rodgers was traded to the New York Jets nearly three years ago, it still didn't seem right to see him wearing a jersey other than his 12 representing the Packers.
All week long, he was cordial. He was complementary. Heck, before the game, he was laughing-it-up and hugging old friends on the opposite sideline. He even said he didn't view it as a rivalry game, despite the fact that we all know that Rodgers is driven almost exclusively by spite and slight.
Ultimately, it didn't matter, though, because Rodgers was far from the best quarterback on the field for Sunday Night Football. In fact, the best quarterback was by far and away his old protégé, Jordan Love, who had the type of performance against Rodgers and his team that should vault him into the midseason NFL MVP conversation.
Love finished the game with 360 yards and three touchdowns on 29-of-37 passing.
“He played great, played fantastic,” Rodgers said of Love, according to Jori Epstein of Yahoo! Sports. “He’s had a really nice season. He’s been really efficient with the football. He’s opportunistic, though. I felt like he was very patient tonight. They took the run solutions. He took the checkdowns, moved in the pocket well. He played outstanding."
Tight end Tucker Kraft caught seven of Love's 29 completions for 143 yards and two touchdowns. If there's any doubt that he's one of the Top 5 tight ends in the NFL, it was completely erased by that performance in the national spotlight.
On the defensive side of the ball, Micah Parsons was able to sack Rodgers and he assisted Rashan Gary, who had two sacks of his own.
If it wasn't for two missed field goals from Brandon McManus, it would have been a perfect and complete game for the Packers. Even then, the end result was a 35-25 win.
Andrew Kulha of PackersRoundtable joins co-host Anthony Moeglin of RoundtableSports and Evan Massey of RoundtableSports to discuss this game and more on the latest edition of the PackersRoundtable podcast.
Watch the full episode below: