A Night of Revenge: Rodgers and Fields Face Their Former Teams in Steelers-Jets Showdown
September 4, 2025
One of the more uninteresting, interesting games of the week 1 slate. We get to see Aaron Rodgers and Justin Fields take on their former teams.. There will be plenty of feelings for both, I’m sure. For Justin, he gave everything he had and tried to take advantage of the starting job last season – All for the job to be handed to Russell Wilson despite Fields playing pretty well.. We saw how that one ended. And Aaron, well I’m not even sure why there would be hard feelings as the Jets basically let him do whatever he wanted while he was there.
After appointing former Detroit DC Aaron Glenn as their new Head Coach, one of the first moves he made was checking in with the commitment level of Aaron Rodgers. After some time of playing around, the Jets opted to move on and identified Justin Fields as their QB for the 2025 season. Should he perform well enough, the job would more than likely be his. However, reports from the summer did not come back glowing, and the mistiming and lack of chemistry was felt in their final preseason performance for the starters in preseason week 2. You would think that joining Justin and his former college receiver Garrett Wilson would be a match made in heaven but it’s been a few years since their Ohio State days and it looks like it may take some time to gel. The run game did not look much better either as both Breece Hall and Braelon Allen are like battering rams into the backs of their own linemen. Openings are not always there but the vision to find a new way is lacking.
As for Pittsburgh, Tomlin and Aaron have always had some sort of weird lovey eye thing going on, and they finally get together in what could be Aaron’s last season. Aaron got what he wanted in New York, bringing in coaches that were under qualified or trading away team resources to bring his friends in Lazard and Adams, it was a bit of a circus. Perhaps he needs the no nonsense type of coach that Tomlin is and perhaps it will reel him in a bit to make the most of what could be his final season. The addition of DK Metcalf will certainly help. The Steelers are known for their bruising players and DK is certainly an intimidating figure that fits right in. The running game should be there as well with Pittsburgh recently extending Jaylen Warren and selecting Kaleb Johnson out of Iowa in April’s draft.
I can’t imagine Aaron Rodgers moved the needle for the Steelers all that much in 2025. I’m sure there will be moments, but I saw enough in New York. It was bad. Luckily for him, he’s playing against New York and they’ll take care of business in what could be quite an ugly game.
Keith, Author
Keith runs youth flag football leagues by day, and by night he hosts the podcast and writes articles with the confidence of a man who’s been rushing quarterbacks since dial-up. A longtime flag football DE and lifelong Falcons fan, he’s no stranger to heartbreak and enjoys watching the bears get slaughtered each week. Equal parts coach, critic, and chaos, Keith calls it like he sees it… even if it hurts.
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