LATROBE, Pa. — Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Aaron Rodgers does not anticipate playing on Saturday against the Jacksonville Jaguars in the team’s first preseason game, he said on Wednesday.
Rodgers, who still has not had a formal conversation with head coach Mike Tomlin about his status for Saturday, says that will be conversation the pair have soon.
“If he wants me to go out there and play, I’ll go, and if not, I won’t,” Rodgers said. “I say a lot with all due respect, preseason football is not real football because defenses just don’t do a lot.”
Rodgers explained that he is not itching to get out on the football field mostly because of the fact he believes preseason football does not give him a ton to learn.
When they host the Tampa Bay Buccaneers for a joint practice next Thursday, however, that is where Rodgers believes he can learn a lot from. From Rodgers’ perspective, defenses do a lot more in joint practice sessions since it will not be on film for all other teams to see.
“Teams are, especially in practice settings, you’re not on film, so they’re less worried about showing things they might be working on,” Rodgers said. “And even though there are cameras there to film, if they’re not a coach or player, you don’t know as much of what they will run. So, you just see more.”
If Rodgers does not start, it will be Mason Rudolph playing for the Steelers. As of now, both Jaguars head coach Liam Coen and Tomlin have not committed to playing their starters in that game.