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brooke prior
Pittsburgh–on the heels of aaron rodgers‘The worst game as a steelerCoach Mike Tomlin said he has no “long-term reservations” about the quarterback’s ability to play the position “at a high level.”
Rodgers threw one touchdown and two interceptions in Sunday night’s 25-10 loss chargers According to ESPN Research, and completed only 52.6% of his attempts, which is his lowest completion percentage in a game in the last five seasons when he attempted at least two passes.
“Sunday night was just like that,” Tomlin said Tuesday. “But I don’t have any long-term reservations about his ability to play the position and play a role at a high level for us.”
Rodgers, 41, also took three sacks against the Chargers, including one in an end zone bye khalil mack For safety in the first part.
Tomlin said of Rodgers’ performance, “I’m not going to chalk it up to an off night, but no long-term concerns.”
Tomlin was later asked if Rodgers’ struggles could be attributed to Chargers defensive coordinator Jesse Minter or some other factor, as he did not consider it an “off night”, but he also did not have “long-term concerns”.
Tomlin responded, “I won’t let your words become my words, that’s all.”
However, Rodgers himself said after the game that he thought it was an uncharacteristic performance.
“A lot of things weren’t working,” Rodgers said Sunday. “We were bad on third down. I was just a little bit behind. … I, for sure, missed some throws. And then we weren’t able to get guys open and it all put together when guys got open. I missed some throws that I normally do.”
Just three weeks earlier, Rodgers completed 23 of 34 attempts for a season-high 249 yards and four touchdowns, including two interceptions. BengalThe Steelers will host the Who in a rematch on Sunday. In that game, running back jaylen warren Exploded for 127 yards on 16 carries and a season-high 7.9 yards per carry.
After the loss to the Chargers, Rodgers advocated giving Warren more opportunities. The fourth year had 14 carries for 70 yards against the Chargers, an average of 5 yards per carry. He has 474 rushing yards, three total touchdowns and is averaging 4.2 yards per carry this season.
“Jaylen made some really good plays,” Rodgers said Sunday. “He is a talented person. We need to give him more facilities.”
However, Warren was dismissed kenneth gainwell 26–23 against the Chargers, although Gainwell had no carries and two receptions on three targets for 4 yards. Warren had two catches on two targets for 21 yards.
Tomlin attributed Warren’s snap count to the lack of drive-sustaining third-down conversions. The Steelers were 2-11 on third downs against the Chargers and ranked 26th in the league, converting on only 36% of their third downs. The Steelers ranked last with an average of 55 offensive plays per game, down from 62.6 a year ago.
“We’ll win more third downs, we’ll give Jaylen more touches,” Tomlin said Tuesday. “It’s as simple as that. Jaylen was looking forward to a good day in L.A., but we didn’t convert enough third downs for you to really feel it.”
Warren did not play a single third-down, and Tomlin rejected the idea that Warren could replace Gainwell as the primary third-down back.
“I’m comfortable with both backs in possession-down the ball,” Tomlin said. “Nothing is going to be taken away from Jaylen. He makes a lot of plays on first and second downs. You have to give him the opportunity to catch breaks, and so sometimes he’s on third down, sometimes he’s not. Sometimes we’ll give other ball carriers the start of the possession.
“He can’t play every down, but I’m completely comfortable using both guys on possession-down plays.”
