Colin Cowherd has been hard on the Pittsburgh Steelers all season, ripping everyone from Mike Tomlin and Arthur Smith to the team’s aging defense. One Steelers player he hasn’t criticized, however, is Aaron Rodgers, whom he credits for the team’s success this year.
Cowherd praised Rodgers again on Monday’s episode of “The Herd” after Pittsburgh clinched a playoff berth by beating the Baltimore Ravens on Sunday Night Football.
“All year long on Pittsburgh, I kept going back to this well. I kept saying, ‘They don’t do anything I like, except Aaron Rodgers,'” Cowherd said. “Pittsburgh’s just not very good at anything. They even missed an extra point last night. Blown coverages everywhere…They just didn’t do anything consistently well all season long.”
“And yet Aaron Rodgers, in the second half of that game, no DK Metcalf, had his best half of the year,” Cowherd continued. “Aaron Rodgers gets my Comeback Player of the Year…The Steelers are in the playoffs. It’s not because of Tomlin, it’s not because of defense…It’s that 42-year-old Aaron Rodgers…was outstanding.”
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In particular, Cowherd praised Rodgers for his performance during the second half of the season. Despite having the league’s 29th-ranked receiving corps per PFF and not having DK Metcalf for the final two weeks, he still completed 67.1 percent of his passes with a 100.7 passer rating and a 14:4 TD/INT ratio. He also went 4-1 to close out the season and did not throw a pick over his final seven games.
Despite averaging the fewest passing yards per game of his career as a starter, Rodgers still went 10-6 and made the playoffs for the first time in four years. He didn’t have much talent around him, but he still managed to elevate Pittsburgh’s roster and propel the team into the postseason with his clutch performance in Week 18.
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Featured image via Peter Casey/Imagn Images