The Pittsburgh Steelers are officially getting back to "real" football, as the pads have come on and they can hit the snot out of each other on the practice field. The rain has finally taken a break in Latrobe to help out with this as well. Steeler Nation and The Pat McAfee Show have filled up the seats at St. Vincent College to listen to pads cracking and some expletives likely being shouted at one another during some scuffles. Football is back.
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Steelers' Mason McCormick during a matchup against the Los Angeles Chargers.
During a quick interview with the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, quarterback Aaron Rodgers was asked about his thoughts on the new-look Steelers defense. Rodgers made some comments about how the defense was soft the first four days.
"They played pretty soft the first four days, so that was a lot of check downs and different things," Rodgers said. "You got a lot of players on that side of the ball. Obviously, you brought in Jalen [Ramsey], got multiple guys that can rush; got a good interior rush, great linebackers; multiple can cover and pressure and fill holes. It's going to be a good test for us. I think for any offense, it's trying to find their footing as we are."
Rodgers must have been playing a different kind of "soft" as well, since he gave up a couple of interceptions during that timeframe, including one on the very first team period snap of training camp. Experienced quarterbacks like him usually know how to pick apart soft coverages. Maybe that quote was meant to get under their skin and make them play even harder, which could lead to even bigger hits and tight press coverages.
Sebastian Foltz / Post-Gazette
Steelers linebacker Patrick Queen (#6) makes the signal for fourth down as the team practices during 2024 training camp at St. Vincent College in Latrobe, PA.
Rodgers continued on as he detailed his desires and expectations from the Steelers' defense during training camp.
"It's not a bad thing to get beat up a little bit," Rodgers said. "If we go out there and they get after us a little bit, that will be the best thing for us. You're not hoping for that because you want to have great practices, but sometimes you can learn more from the failures in training camp than getting after them every single day."
After being one of the worst quarterbacks against the blitz in 2024, Rodgers seems pretty excited about the defense not going soft on him and making his decisions a lot tougher. If he keeps calling them soft, they won't hesitate to lock down receivers and try to bully them in 11 on 11 drills. Rodgers is still trying to gel with his new weapons, so dealing with the likes of Joey Porter Jr. locking down his top options could be a problem for him.
Karl Roser / Pittsburgh Steelers
Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Aaron Rodgers (8) practices at the UPMC Rooney Sports Complex during the 2025 minicamp, Tuesday June 10, 2025.
Steelers May Need This Level Of Taunting
The Steelers had an epic collapse at the end of the 2024 season, and the defense was primarily at fault for it. During that time frame, they were definitely playing soft coverages, as well as being slow and uncoordinated. That kind of performance can't happen again if they want to keep General Manager Omar Khan from blowing that unit up. He already started by trading away Minkah Fitzpatrick and letting others go. Another failure like that could result in more notable names getting shipped away.
Either way, the Steelers' defense is still the highest-paid unit in the NFL. Anything less than a great year-long performance will be seen as soft and an underachievement. They still seem to be embarrassed by allowing almost 300 rushing yards in the Wild Card round against their most hated division rival. The goal for that phase of the game is to make the offense's life easier and don't give up yards and points on a silver platter again.
What do you think about Rodgers calling the Steelers defense soft? Let us know in the comments or on X at @Steelers_ChrisB.
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