A crucial mistake by an offensive tackle in protection can result in a quarterback going down.
In Aaron Rodgers' case on Thursday Night Football of Week 7, his blindside protector Broderick Jones blindsided him long after any apparent danger had passed, joyously tackling him to the ground right in the wake of a 68-yard touchdown pass to Pat Freiermuth that helped the Pittsburgh Steelers pull ahead of the Cincinnati Bengals, 31-30, with just over two minutes remaining in regulation.
Likely shocked to be knocked down and landed on by the left tackle, listed at a mountainous 6-foot-5 and 311 pounds, Rodgers angrily pushed his teammate away, appearing to yell, "Get off of me." To make matters worse, the Steelers ended up blowing the lead on a last-second field goal. Regardless, cooler heads have since prevailed -- a threat from the star QB notwithstanding.
"Brod is always the first one to come find me after a play," Rodgers said Wednesday. "It could be like the first big pass down to DK (Metcalf) on third down, he's coming and dapping me up. What you don't see in the video is right after the throw he's coming over to me and shaking me and shaking me. I texted him and I said, 'Hey, man, I love your energy. I love everything you're about. But also I'm 41. You can't be out there tackling me like that.' But I love Brod. We had a couple laughs about it. I told him I'm getting him next. He better watch his back."
The shocking upset to Cincinnati ended a three-game winning streak for the Steelers, but the jubilation on display in that celebration fail since gone viral is reminiscent of the overall vibe in Pittsburgh.
Rodgers has the Black and Gold sitting at 4-2, atop an AFC North consisting of three other clubs currently under .500. Rodgers, a quadragenerian as he mentioned, has not taken a sack in three of the past four contests, including Week 7, when Jones and Co. allowed just six pressures on 34 dropbacks.
"The only tackle I had the other night was Broderick, so other than that I'm feeling pretty good," Rodgers joked.
Although video of that tackle was shared online by many, it's perhaps fitting that another one of his longtime linemen, ex-Packer David Bakhtiari, racked up over six million views on social media delighting in Rodgers' old man anger rearing its head.
It is against many more of his former teammates that Rodgers will now have to bounce back.
The Steelers are preparing to host the Green Bay Packers on Sunday Night Football, likely the only regular-season matchup Rodgers will ever have against the club with whom he won four AP NFL Most Valuable Player awards and a Super Bowl -- and a pivotal game for Pittsburgh to avoid falling to 4-3 before taking on the AFC's top-seeded Indianapolis Colts in Week 9.
With such stakes, against his former squad of 18 years, Rodgers will surely want to deliver several big plays worthy of more celebration.
Here's hoping he and Jones have recalibrated their reactions accordingly.
