Back in July, former Steelers head coach Bill Cowher dropped by The Dan Patrick Show, not long after Pittsburgh brought in Aaron Rodgers on a one-year deal. But Rodgers’ signing came with plenty of skepticism floating around. How would Rodgers actually thrive in a brand-new system this late in his career? Cowher, however, didn’t dance around it. When asked if he’d hand Rodgers full control of the offense, his response was short and sharp: “Absolutely.”

“I don’t think there’s any question about it. And I think Aaron’s at a point where he knows you don’t want him to be throwing the ball 40 times a game at this point. You want Aaron Rodgers to be healthy going into the playoffs, and hopefully you get to the playoffs.” And heading into the season opener, Rodgers put up a strong outing, showing flashes of something he excelled at and something he never did.

He went 22-30, 244 yards, and 4 touchdowns through the air, and also had nine drop-backs of under-center play-action in this game. But heading into Week 2, however, there was a wrinkle. Rodgers’ performance against the Seahawks came out flat—this time, it was something where he excels. He finished the game with just 18/33 for 203 yards, racked up one touchdown, and threw three picks. Final score: 31-17 in Seattle’s favor.

And now, the Steelers’ former HC has returned to The Dan Patrick Show. This time, Patrick simply asked him how he would assess the Steelers after the first couple of games. Cowher didn’t shy away from pointing out the major issue Rodgers is facing. “Well, I mean, I think they did a lot of good things in Week One,” the Steelers’ legendary coach said. “Certainly a tough loss yesterday.

“I think, again, with that offense, there’s going to be some mistimings. You saw—I thought it was interesting—a lot of slants to DK Metcalf were behind him in the first week, which means Aaron’s trying to get a gauge for DK. This week a couple were in front of him. So there’s that timing element that just takes game time to figure out—seeing who plays faster, who plays slower.” With Rodgers coming to Pittsburgh, slants and fades were expected from the 41-year-old.

It’s the same script he once ran with Davante Adams. Now in Pittsburgh, DK Metcalf was set to be his go-to guy. But Cowher believes that the Rodgers-Metcalf connection is still a work in progress, which we’ll study piece by piece. For starters, take the season opener against the Jets, for instance. As expected, Metcalf was Rodgers’ No. 1 target. Rodgers targeted Metcalf heavily in the opener (7 targets), and the wideout responded with 4 catches for 83 yards.

But the film/beat writers noted that timing and O-line issues affected quick throws. Add in four sacks on Rodgers, and you’ve got the textbook recipe for a few slants to land behind the receiver while the duo learns each other’s timing. Fast forward to Week 2 against the Seahawks, while Pittsburgh lost the game, Bill Cowher believes that Rodgers’ passes to Metcalf were in front of the receiver, and the timing just got better.

Metcalf wrapped up the night with just three catches for 20 yards, though one of them was a 2-yard touchdown. That score is a clear example of Rodgers putting the ball right where Metcalf needed it, in his immediate catching window. To put it simply: Rodgers looked sharp in Week 1, stumbled in the loss to Seattle, and, as Bill Cowher pointed out, his timing with Metcalf is still very much a work in progress.

Mike Tomlin’s philosophy turned the game in Seattle’s favor

Aaron Rodgers and the Steelers lost the Week 2 game 31-17. But at one point, the scoreboard read 14-14, with the Steelers on fourth-and-1. Rodgers wanted to go for it. Sounded tempting, but not to Mike Tomlin. Rather than going for the fourth-and-1, the Steelers’ punter Corliss Waitman booted it to the Seahawks’ 9-yard line. And let’s just say, this turned out to be a turning point of the game.

Right after that went down, the Seahawks took a 17-14 lead, thanks to a 54-yard field goal by Jason Myers. The plot thickened from there. On the very next kickoff, the Steelers’ rookie, Kaleb Johsnon, mishandled the ball, letting it slip through his hands and roll into the end zone. He thought the play was over, but it wasn’t.

Seattle’s George Holani dove on the live ball for a crushing touchdown, swinging the momentum completely their way. From that point on, the Steelers never recovered. The turnover allowed the Seahawks to take a 24-14 lead in the fourth quarter. Sure, Pittsburgh answered back and cut the lead to 24-17. But at the end of the day, it didn’t make much difference as the Seahawks walked out of the field with a 31-17 win over Aaron Rodgers’ team.

“You know, neither offense was lighting up that juncture. As I mentioned, we had absorbed some attrition on defense, and so I want to protect that group and keep them on a long field,” Tomlin said after the game, addressing his decision to punt at fourth-and-one. Though the Steelers indeed suffered a couple of injuries on their defense, and Tomlin wanted to keep his defenders safe, as things stand, the Steelers are now down to 1-1.