The Pittsburgh Steelers are desperate to drag themselves out of mediocrity and win a playoff game before their drought of playoff wins reaches a full decade. To get their fingers around that ever-so-elusive playoff win, Pittsburgh brought in four-time MVP Aaron Rodgers this offseason.
Rodgers lit up the box score in his Steelers debut, throwing for over 200 yards and four touchdowns. However, there was concern from some around the league that Pittsburgh’s offensive line wasn’t playing up to par, as Rodgers was still sacked four times.
“I’m very encouraged by the way Aaron played. My concern is going to be, moving forward, can Aaron take a beating like that every week? Not at that age. If that doesn’t improve, we’re not gonna have a quarterback very long, and it’s gonna be a rough season,” legendary Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger said after Week One.
For his part, Rodgers took accountability for the sacks.
“Aaron Rodgers said his back was tight on Sunday, which kept him from moving how he typically moves. He said he ran into 1-2 sacks. ‘I might be old, but I still feel like I can move around pretty good, and I wasn’t moving the way I usually like to move,'” reported Brooke Pryor.
Shockingly, the line struggled again in Week Two, with Rodgers being sacked three more times.
Unfortunately, Rodgers has just lost one of the linemen tasked with protecting him for the season, meaning he and the Steelers are going to have an even harder time in pass protection moving forward.
“Sources: #Steelers interior OL Max Scharping suffered a knee injury during today’s practice and the fear is that it’s significant. He’ll have an MRI to confirm the severity. A tough reality for a key depth piece for Pittsburgh,” NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport reported on Wednesday, before confirming the diagnosis on Thursday.
“It is, in fact, a torn ACL, sources say. Max Scharping is out for the season.”
It’ll be interesting to see how Rodgers and the Steelers manage the rest of the season after such a devastating loss so early in the year.
About Qwame Skinner
Qwame Skinner has loved both writing and sports his entire life. In addition to his sports coverage at Comeback Media, Qwame writes novels, and his debut; The First Casualty, an adult fantasy, is out now.