There's no guarantee the Pittsburgh Steelers are good this year. Heck, there's no guarantee they even beat the New York Jets on Sunday. As I write this story after one drive from Rodgers and the Steelers offense, I can't help but think of the promising Steelers quarterbacks of the not-so-distant past since Ben Roethlisberger retired. Whether it be Kenny Pickett, Russell Wilson or even Justin Fields – the Steelers opponent on Sunday – Pittsburgh fans are far too quick to jump on the bandwagon. That didn't change with Rodgers.
The difference between Rodgers and, say, Pickett is that one of those players is a future Hall-of-Fame quarterback. Rodgers should look good this early in the season. He didn't play a preseason game and Mike Tomlin refused to put him in harm's way during training camp. That was a smart call – Rodgers is just a season removed from a season-ending Achilles injury. But it also leads to classic overreactions from one of the largest fanbases in the sport. Rodgers led the Steelers on a touchdown drive to open the season, finding wide receiver Ben Skowronek for a 22-yard TD.
Are Steelers fans falling for a familiar trap?
By definition, yes. It's impossible to tell if Rodgers will be a success story in Pittsburgh or a failure which leads to retirement after just one game, let alone one drive. I recall many of the same statements made about Pickett, Wilson and even Fields in their debuts. The hard truth about the NFL is teams like the Steelers often have their first drive scripted. It ought to work, or it's a bad sign of what's to come.
Even the Jets scored on their first AND second drives of the game, led by Fields. Does that mean the former Steeler is a franchise quarterback? Not so much.
Again, Rodgers is a future Hall of Famer, so he gets more leeway than most. He apparently looked great during training camp and even practice this week, per Dianna Russini. "Rodgers, according to folks I’ve talked with in Pittsburgh, looks refreshed, healthy, and ready to roll," Russini wrote.
I have no reason not to believe her, but we should also take the Steelers expectations into account.
Steelers fans shouldn't fall for a familiar trap
One game against the Jets does not prove much of anything. New York could surprise some folks this season, but they are still expected to miss the postseason. In theory, this is a game the Steelers should win if they hope to reach their ultimate goal of making the playoffs and winning a game once they get there. Rodgers was the key cog in making that happen.
Pittsburgh has been here before with Pickett, specifically. Despite all of his misgivings, Pickett did win quite a bit when he started for the Steelers. There were always flashes, but in the end he failed to develop into the player Tomlin thought he could be leading the Steelers offense. Rodgers is 41 years old. Father time comes from us all. As fun as it is to watch Rodgers reach deep into his bag of tricks against his former team, his Steelers legacy will be determined over the course of a full season, rather than a Week 1 game against the Jets, of all teams.