As the Pittsburgh Steelers get ready for their first game of the season, taking on a decent Atlanta Falcons team, there's a lot of pressure for many within the organization. For one, fans who wanted Mike Tomlin out of town will have to hope things go as planned, so Mike McCarthy is going to feel a lot of that.
McCarthy has done a very good job throughout a lot of his career of being an above-average head coach, and his history with Aaron Rodgers definitely makes things a lot easier than they would be if he hadn't coached Rodgers in the past. That relationship should be a very good thing for all involved, though I'm very curious to see how it actually plays out.
Everybody knows what McCarthy can bring to an offense, as some view him as a quarterback guru and an excellent play caller.
The one very promising thing, and something that it seems like Aaron Rodgers really loves about him, is the fact that he's not only a great play caller, but they both have a lot of trust in one another in what they're trying to do. Rodgers recently spoke about that and his Pittsburgh accent, having some hilarious but honest talks about the accent and McCarthy as a play caller.
“Mike’s a good play caller,” Rodgers said after practice on Wednesday, per Steelers Now. “We’ve got a good relationship, quarterback to play caller. There’s a lot of trust going both ways, and I’m excited about what it’s gonna feel like to hear his voice — very Pittsburghese voice — in my helmet, again.”
“It’s no better,” Rodgers said. “It’s tough sometimes. That’s why you really gotta study the plan, because he’ll say a word that if you just spell it out — even if you’re doing Hooked on Phonics — it would not sound anywhere near what he’s saying. So you gotta know the plan pretty well to fill in the gaps in the language barrier.”
I think this is a really good sign that Pittsburgh's offense will be better than it was a year ago.
Had Rodgers come out and said that he doesn't love what McCarthy has done in training camp and at other stops, it would be a very concerning sign, but everything we know between Rodgers and McCarthy suggests that they have one of the better relationships in the NFL for a head coach and a player.
Having that trust between a quarterback and a head coach who is calling plays is also a very important sign, one that again should lead to an above-average offense in Pittsburgh.
