Photo: Stacy Revere
The Pittsburgh Steelers are on Aaron Rodgers' radar -- at least for the next few days.
Rodgers and the Green Bay Packers will host the Steelers on Sunday (October 3), but the reigning NFL MVP might also be focused on the Steel City long-term.
During his weekly 'Aaron Rodgers Tuesday' appearance on The Pat McAfee Show, Rodgers told the former NFL punter and Plum native about his affinity for the city, its residents, and a locally inspired viral social media sensation.
"I've been around a lot of Pittsburgh people over the years and I have loved my time with all of them," Rodgers said. "I've learned to speak the language really well, which has actually allowed me to follow and become a big fan of 'Pittsburgh Dad.' If you haven't seen Pittsburgh Dad on Twitter, big 'shaht aht.'
"Some incredible, incredible, incredible videos that, for someone, whether you live in Pittsburgh, you live in Pennsylvania, you know somebody from Pittsburgh, you can appreciate the videos so much because you know people who talk like that, who, you know, annunciate like that and that was most of my career with [former Packers coach and Pittsburgh native] Mike [McCarthy] in the headset just trying to figure out what the hell he was saying."
"It's a great blue-collar town," Rodgers added. "There's a lot of great people that live there, it's got a great history, that city.
Rodgers also praised Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin, crediting his longevity during his 15th NFL season as one of the league's longest-tenured coaches.
"I have a ton of respect for Mike, I think he's a fantastic coach," Rodgers said. "I love the way that he leads, I love the way that he talks after the games. He always seems to keep things really even-keeled and it looks like he's somebody that the players love playing for him."
Rodgers also praised Steelers outside linebacker T.J. Watt as "one of the top two or three at the most defensive players in the league" and said possibly having him back in the fold for Week 4 would be "a total gamechanger," while also downplaying the Steelers' 1-2 start as "an anomaly."
"They're 1-2 right now coming off a tough divisional loss, that seems like a dangerous football team," Rodgers said.
Rodgers' displeasure with the Packers' organization was the biggest topic of the NFL offseason prior to his return to the team and a brutally honest press conference addressing several of his issues.
The 37-year-old is set to test free agency next offseason, which could coincide with Ben Roethlisberger's possible retirement, as he's currently also in the final year of a reworked deal.
For what it's worth, 'Pittsburgh Dad' seems to not only be grateful for the "shaht aht" from Rodgers but also responded, in true fashion, with, "I'd say we'll leave the light on here for you in 2022 but that'll just run up our electric bill," in a quote-tweet of Rodgers' praise.
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