Aaron Rodgers Finally Clarifies Stance on Coexisting With Steelers OC Arthur Smith

“It’s almost certainly going to be an Arthur Smith offense… That means play-action from under center, and we just don’t see that from Aaron Rodgers anymore,” Josh Norris predicted Aaron Rodgers‘ role in the Steel City even before the 41-year-old quarterback signed a one-year deal with the Steelers. The reasoning was simple: Smith loves a run-heavy, play-action style. Rodgers? He’s built his whole career on being an elite passer.

But then Rodgers walked back into MetLife rocking black and gold, facing his old squad, Justin Fields, and the Jets‘ shiny new regime. And the result? The 41-year-old lit them up, kicking off the 2025 season with a thrilling 34-32 comeback win, thanks to Chris Boswell’s career-best 60-yard field goal with less than a couple of minutes remaining. And let’s just say, the newly acquired quarterback looked comfortable in Smith’s offense, finishing the game with a 136.7 passer rating.

So, when the question popped up about how comfortable he looked in Smith’s offense, Rodgers brushed off all that outside chatter and straight-up called the negative talk about him and his OC nothing but “Garbage.” “There’s a lot of garbage being talked about myself or Arthur (Smith) or whatever out there, how we’re going to co-exist,” Rodgers said after the game, addressing how he turned heads in Smith’s offense.

“We got a great relationship, and he caught a really good game. I got to play a little better in spots, but happy to be one of them.” When Rodgers signed with the Steelers, the questions and debates regarding whether the four-time MVP would fit in the Steelers’ offense were palpable. The reasons were many. For starters, when he signed with the Jets a couple of years back, he arrived with a set of conditions.

One: he wanted the New York team to sign his old mates. Two: he wanted to run things the way he wanted and on his schedule. But in Pittsburgh? Nothing was guaranteed. Because it was Arthur Smith’s offense. Secondly, the last time the Steelers signed a veteran quarterback, he had a rocky relationship with Smith. Yes, we’re talking about Russell Wilson. Smith wanted a heavy play-action offense, while Wilson had other plans.

So when Mike Tomlin and the Steelers rolled the dice on Rodgers (a pure passer with over 63K yards through the air and barely 800 on the ground), it wasn’t shocking that folks were more skeptical than hopeful about meshing with Smith’s run-heavy system. But the QB-OC proved everyone wrong, showcasing a good relationship.  Rodgers started for the Steelers for the first time and completed 22-of-30 passes for 244 yards and four touchdowns. The result?

The Jets had an early lead in the game, no doubt. But at the end of the day, Aaron Rodgers and his crew got the 1-0 lead in the opening week of the 2025 regular season.

Aaron Rodgers vs. his former team: The takeaways

Aaron Rodgers wrapped up his brief couple of years stint in New York with four passing touchdowns in the 2024 season finale. Fast forward to now, Rodgers returned to MetLife Stadium, but in different colors, and racked up another four passing touchdowns. The 41-year-old has now become the first player in NFL history with consecutive four-touchdown passing games for different franchises.

On top of that, he now requires just one TD to equal Brett Favre on the career touchdown list. Taken all together, you can pretty much chalk up the Steelers’ comeback win to the four-time MVP doing his thing on Sunday. The quarterback was efficient throughout the game, especially in third-and-long situations.

For starters, during the Steelers’ first drive, Rodgers converted a couple of tough third-and-long situations, setting up his first touchdown pass as a Steeler. Plus, the 41-year-old was sharp in the red zone too—the Steelers went a perfect 3-for-3 once they got inside the Jets’ 20-yard line. Last but not least, Rodgers led the Steelers into field-goal range and Boswell did the rest of the job. Final results: Steelers won—34-32.