New England Patriots
“There might have been a couple of of us on the sideline who had a really tiny, quiet ‘go’ on that play.”
Gillette Stadium has served as a home of horrors for Aaron Rodgers and the Steelers through the years.
When factoring in New England’s lopsided overcome Pittsburgh within the 2016 AFC Championship Recreation (36-15), the Patriots have gained six of their final seven matchups towards the Steelers in Foxborough.
The lone outlier over that prolonged stretch was a 33-10 Pittsburgh win on Nov. 30, 2008 — throughout a season the place Tom Brady was sidelined because of a torn ACL.
Whereas Rodgers is simply in his first season with Pittsburgh, he additionally hasn’t had a lot success at Gillette.
Despite the fact that he’s 3-3 towards New England in his profession thus far with each the Packers and Jets, he’s 0-2 in Foxborough.
However even with these setbacks towards the Patriots, Rodgers did share one fond reminiscence of his earlier conferences with New England — particularly a recreation in 2010 the place Rodgers was sidelined and backup Matt Flynn was beneath heart.
“We had an opportunity,” Rodgers said Wednesday of his previous matchups at Gillette. “We had been up 5 final 12 months with like two minutes left, and so they hit an enormous, massive move. We had been tied with them going into the fourth in ’18, after which obtained beat by a pair scores. I didn’t play in 2010.
“Matt Flynn performed, performed effectively, however we gave up one of many biggest performs I’ve been part of in my NFL historical past. And that’s when Dan Connolly had a kickoff return that just about went for a landing.
Throughout that nationally-televised Sunday Evening Soccer showdown between the Patriots and Packers, Connolly — a 313-pound guard — almost discovered the tip zone after fielding a squibbed kickoff and rumbling 71 yards down the sector earlier than getting tackled at Inexperienced Bay’s five-yard line.
Connolly’s return served because the spark wanted for New England to erase what was a 17-7 deficit on the time en path to an eventual 31-27 victory.
“Hated that it was towards us, however as a lover of the massive guys, once they get the chance to point out the athleticism, there might have been a couple of of us on the sideline who had a really tiny, quiet ‘go’ on that play,” Rodgers stated. “However, yeah, be good to get a win there.”
Rodgers, 41, is anticipating one other robust matchup towards a Patriots crew that’s seeking to submit back-to-back wins for the primary time since Oct. 30-Nov. 20, 2022.
“They’ve obtained some new gamers,” Rodgers stated of New England. “These guys are enjoying effectively. Each of their massive acquisitions within the offseason — 97 [Milton Williams] and a couple of [Harold Landry] have been off to begin this season. It appears to be like like a [Mike] Vrabel protection, the way in which they fly round, the completely different appears to be like they obtained. Aggressive blitzing nature that they do. In order that they’re enjoying good on protection.”
Join the As we speak publication
Get every little thing you have to know to start out your day, delivered proper to your inbox each morning.
