PITTSBURGH STEELERS MEDIA CONFERENCE

November 2, 2025

Aaron Rodgers

Steelers - 27, Colts - 20

Q. Aaron, when you play a team like that, when you score points, how important is it to convert those turnovers into touchdowns, which you did three straight times?

AARON RODGERS: Did we really? We started off pretty slow. It was pretty ugly on offense for a decent part of the day. Had a lot of chances.

But our defense played incredible after getting blasted for the last week. Really proud of them, thought the energy was great, but there was a good message last night by Jalen, and I think the guys responded well.

Q. After the muffed punt, I think you scored on every one of the next four you got in turnovers. What did you like, first of all, about your execution and the play calling in those situations?

AARON RODGERS: I loved the play calling. I thought the execution was pretty bad. We've got to look in the mirror and play better on offense because that's not good enough. Any phase. Me, run game, catching the football.

Defense played incredible. We've got to put -- game like that, we've got to put 35, 42 on the board and close the game out. So good tape for coaching staff when you win a game, and you've got a lot to work on.

Q. Aaron, specifically with T.J., when he makes that play, what kind of wave did it give?

AARON RODGERS: I think that was the turning point in the game, for sure. 7-0, they were driving. We turned that into 7, I believe. That was good. It wasn't a pretty drive. We had a 4th and 1 conversion, but that changed the game, hundred percent.

From that point forward, I thought the pass rush was outstanding. We covered well on the back end. Give Kyle a lot of credit for coming in here and playing the way he did. Seemed like Alex and T.J. and Nick were super active, and their inside guys were good. Seemed like PQ had a good game. Payton had a big pick.

Everybody on defense played great. Got to give 5 a lot of credit for his leadership the last 24 hours. I haven't seen the film. But the eye test, felt like he was in the right place at the right time on defense, and we were opportunistic. Really proud of those guys.

We did just enough on offense. Play calling was solid. Loved the mixture of play calling various times in those possession downs, but the execution was pretty bad.

Q. Aaron, Ben said you had a conversation before the game. Not asking what you said. What do you respect about him as a quarterback as they celebrate one of his Super Bowls here?

AARON RODGERS: I was wondering if you were talking about Skowronek. I'm saying, you talked to Ben? What the hell is Ben saying? Big Ben, yeah. I've known Ben for years and years and years, going back to, you know, the early Tahoe days, and he was picked in the draft before me. So obviously knew about his game, and we played a long time. Only got to play each other a couple times.

But a lot of respect for him in his career, what he accomplished. They won the Super Bowl in, what, his second year? That's pretty impressive. In the first year, they won a bunch of games too. He's kind of the standard, like him and Marino until -- I guess maybe I'm missing one or two. But seemed like him and Marino and maybe Jayden last year, three quarterbacks you think about having success in a rookie year.

So one of my favorite as a fan of the game, because I am, Big Ben moments was a drive in the Super Bowl against Arizona. Coming down and hitting Santonio, right, in the corner of the end zone. Beautiful pass and great toe tap.

But I enjoyed watching him play over the years because he wasn't the fastest guy, but he was hard to take down. He was swinging the ball around, keeping the plays alive. It's fun. This is a Big Ben team. I'm just happy to be a part of the organization, though.

Q. Aaron, we talked to Cal. He said he was really motivated to know that you can work the ball to whoever throughout any read on any play. What do you see with the guys and their effort to fight, even if they're not the primary read. Seems all five guys you have are fighting to get open.

AARON RODGERS: That's how they've got to do it. I tell them, you've got to run it like the ball's coming your way every play. I was proud of Cal, proud of the tight ends.

Darnell had, basically, the one drive where he had a bunch of catches. He's a weapon. We have to get it fixed there in the red season zone so we can connect on a touchdown. Love his attitude. When he's on the field, we're a better team. You've talked about it, we've talked about it, everybody's talked about it. When 80 is on the field, we're a better offense. So I'm really proud of his effort every single week.

I thought the line blocked really well. I kind of walked into one sack. Had to take a sack on one play when Calvin fell down to keep the 40 seconds on the clock. Other than that, I thought they played really well in the pass game. We didn't run as well as we wanted to, but they've got a good front, and we had to dink and dunk 'em at times.

Q. A couple defensive players said they felt they were bringing a different energy in practice this week going into this game. Did you notice a sense of urgency or more aggression, more energy throughout practice this week?

AARON RODGERS: No. No, I didn't. But I noticed that something kind of changed last night when Jalen spoke. It's not easy to speak in front of the team, even when you're a player. It's unnatural. Coaches are used to it. They do it every day. Mike is fantastic about it. Jalen went on and on. Had the attention in the room.

He said good stuff. I'm not going to get into it. It's kind of need-to-know information. It was meaningful to me on the offensive side. I felt like we had a different energy in the locker room today. All week, I don't pay super tight attention to that side of the ball in practice. In the locker room pregame, there was a different energy for us. They played really well.

Q. How hard is it for a guy like Kyle to come on Thursday, two practices, play a full load of snaps, and what can you say about doing that on such short notice?

AARON RODGERS: Give him a lot of credit. As a professional, that's hard to do. I've seen a lot of transactions over the years, and I always feel like if you can put your arms around that guy right away, you got a good chance of him kind of jumping on board. And I felt like in Green Bay, we were really good at that. We had some misfits in 2010 that other teams kind of cast off, and we kind of brought them into the fold, did something special.

He's a guy like that too. He went from making money and being a starter to being out of the rotation. I saw him in the weight room Wednesday and chatted him up. Felt like the guys kind of just brought him in and said, you're our guy. Go out there and just be yourself and have fun. But it is not easy to do that at all. I give him a lot of credit as a professional. Glad he's with us.

Q. You mentioned a couple times not riding the roller coaster. After the adversity you faced the last two weeks, how would you describe the resiliency of this team?

AARON RODGERS: We lost a couple where we had legitimate chances to win. But it's a crazy league. I saw the scores, and Carolina beat Green Bay today at Lambeau, I believe. Chicago had a comeback win after giving up 42 points. Minnesota beat Detroit, I believe, too. Anything can happen. That's what the league wants. There's a great parity to it. You've got to deal with adversity.

This was a really important win for us, though, to not lose three in a row, to not go to 1-3 at home. And to kind of get that big elephant that was starting to try and jump on the backs of the defense, which is made up of media and, you know, outside conversation about them.

So we're all human, and I think those guys felt pretty upset about what was going on. I'm proud of them, the way they came back and responded.

Q. After one of Boswell's field goals, it seems as though you had a long conversation with him. Would you be able to share that conversation?

AARON RODGERS: On the field or on the sideline?

Q. On the field.

AARON RODGERS: I didn't talk to Mason Crosby a lot over the years before the kick, and so I've been kind of staying away from Bos because he's been so incredible, and it's like talking to a pitcher in a no-hitter.

But he made a comment last week that I don't say anything to him when I run off the field. I'm just mad that we're kicking. I said, the only time I'd be happy is going from two scores to three late in the game.

So I think that may have been on the kick where it went to 27-10. And I also told him that, you know, he's been kind of missing me after I go out to dap up the linemen for blocking and stuff. He kind of runs off, you know, and doesn't give me any love. So he made a point this game to come over and dap me up. That's probably what we were talking about.

Q. You were crediting Darnell earlier for his work. What has improved from his route running standpoint to set up windows for you to target him in?

AARON RODGERS: Yeah. It's really that. It's attention in practice to kind of taking your time, especially in the group work, working on being deliberate but patient with his route running.

He's just such a big body. I want to throw it up to him. Unfortunately, we had a couple plays we've been working on for weeks that we called today that went to him that didn't work. So I'm pretty upset about that. But Fredo was like, okay, I'm glad you went back to Darnell. I said of course. He's a damn good player, and he needs the ball. When he gets the ball, good things happen. He's got good hands and he's good after the catch, and that one drive was really important, him kind of getting us going.

Q. When a guy like Jalen stands up and talks as he did, and then he goes out in a game and plays another position for the entire the game, is that just kind of even validated or justified even more, if you know what I mean?

AARON RODGERS: For sure. I think he played with an edge too. The only peek into the conversation last night was that he wanted us to play with the edge on defense. Didn't feel like we were doing that enough. And they played with an edge today for sure. Really thankful that Jalen is here and that he felt comfortable speaking up and then the guys responded the right way.