{"id":57695,"date":"2025-06-22T02:40:01","date_gmt":"2025-06-22T02:40:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=57695"},"modified":"2025-06-22T02:40:01","modified_gmt":"2025-06-22T02:40:01","slug":"breaking-steelers-aaron-rodgers-puts-former-team-on-blast-report","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=57695","title":{"rendered":"BREAKING: Steelers\u2019 Aaron Rodgers Puts Former Team on Blast: Report.."},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"post-featured-container-id\">\n<div id=\"post-featured\" class=\"wp-caption \">\n<div class=\"h-responsive\">\n<figure class=\"h-responsive__inner\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"attachment-featured-image size-featured-image wp-post-image\" src=\"https:\/\/heavy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/GettyImages-2219535677.jpg?quality=65&amp;strip=all&amp;w=780\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 820px) 95vw, 780px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/heavy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/GettyImages-2219535677.jpg?quality=65&amp;strip=all&amp;w=780 780w, https:\/\/heavy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/GettyImages-2219535677.jpg?quality=15&amp;strip=all&amp;w=1100 1100w, https:\/\/heavy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/GettyImages-2219535677.jpg?quality=35&amp;strip=all&amp;w=1350 1350w\" alt=\"Aaron Rodgers\" width=\"780\" height=\"439\" data-img-load-time=\"92\" data-dom-ready-time=\"179\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"wp-caption-text\"><span class=\"caption-credit\">Getty<\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"c-post-image-caption-text\">NFL analyst Mark Schlereth said on his podcast that Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Aaron Rodgers significantly criticized the New York Jets running game.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>It\u2019s no secret that new\u00a0Pittsburgh Steelers\u00a0quarterback\u00a0Aaron Rodgers\u00a0has no love loss for the\u00a0New York Jets. The quarterback has previously been critical of the team\u2019s leadership, specifically how the organization told him they were planning to release him this offseason.<\/p>\n<p>But in a more recent conversation with NFL analyst Mark Schlereth, Rodgers was more critical about the Jets from a schematic standpoint. Specifically, Rodgers blasted New York\u2019s running game during the 2023-24 seasons.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOne thing Aaron and I had a conversation about when he was with the Jets was how abysmal their running game was and how schematically it made no sense,\u201d\u00a0Schlereth said on\u00a0<em>The Stinkin Truth Podcast<\/em>. \u201cI brought up the conversation. I started the conversation, and then Aaron went on for about a 25-minute diatribe on just their run game.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The statistics support Rodgers\u2019 argument. The Jets finished with the second-fewest rushing yards in the NFL last season. Only the\u00a0Las Vegas Raiders\u00a0had fewer.<\/p>\n<p>Running back Breece Hall, who averaged 5.8 yards per carry as a rookie before an injury in 2022,\u00a0posted\u00a04.2 yards per rush last season.<\/p>\n<p>During the 2023 campaign with Rodgers on the sidelines for all but handful of plays, the Jets\u00a0were ranked 22nd in rushing.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<h2>Aaron Rodgers Rips Jets Running Game<\/h2>\n<p>Schlereth, who, in so many words, admitted on the podcast that he is close friends with Rodgers, agreed. The former offensive linemen wasn\u2019t impressed with the Jets running scheme last season either.<\/p>\n<p>Schlereth explained that\u2019s actually how the conversation started. He had questions about the Jets poor rushing attack and while asking Rodgers about it, the quarterback went on a \u201cdiatribe.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt was just the worst, schematic run game I\u2019ve ever watched in the NFL,\u201d\u00a0Schlereth said on his podcast. \u201cI kept watching plays. Like, there\u2019s a difference between having guys that can\u2019t block people. I\u2019ve seen that too, right?<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBut having your players do things that make zero sense. Like, this makes no sense. Why in the world would you block this, this way?<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere\u2019s zero chance of this being successful.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The Jets fell behind in a lot of games, which could explain some of why they didn\u2019t post more rushing yards. From a yards per carry standpoint, the Jets finished 16th in the league.<\/p>\n<p>But the lack of total production put a lot of the offensive weight on Rodgers. The Jets also scored only eight rushing touchdowns, which was tied for second-fewest in the league.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<h2>Schlereth Praises Steelers Ground Attack<\/h2>\n<p>The Steelers were\u00a011th in rushing yards last season. Interestingly, though, the team finished behind the Jets in the yards per carry category.<\/p>\n<p>Should the lack of efficiency with Pittsburgh\u2019s ground game be alarming for Rodgers, especially since the Steelers didn\u2019t re-sign starting running back\u00a0Najee Harris? Schlereth, at least, argued no.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOne thing I know about Arthur Smith, he does a great job in the run game,\u201d Schlereth said. \u201cAnd he does a great job with personal groupings. Multiple tight ends, multiple running backs. Really run the ball \u2026 and marrying the running game with the play-action game. He\u2019s excellent at that.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>With Smith\u2019s running philosophy, Schlereth argued the Steelers will \u201ctake care of\u201d first and second down for Rodgers. Then, the quarterback will have to shine on what head coach Mike Tomlin has often referred to as \u201cthe weighty down,\u201d which is third down.<\/p>\n<p>That sounds great on paper. But again, the question is whether the Steelers running game can accomplish that without Harris.<\/p>\n<p>Although he wasn\u2019t particularly efficient, Harris did gain 1,000 rushing yards in his four seasons with the Steelers. This offseason, though, he left in free agency.<\/p>\n<p>Jaylen Warren\u00a0will replace him along with third-round rookie\u00a0Kaleb Johnson.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Getty NFL analyst Mark Schlereth said on his podcast that Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Aaron Rodgers significantly criticized the New York Jets running game. It\u2019s no secret that&#8230; <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":57696,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-57695","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nfl"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>BREAKING: Steelers\u2019 Aaron Rodgers Puts Former Team on Blast: Report.. - 24\/7 News America<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=57695\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"BREAKING: Steelers\u2019 Aaron Rodgers Puts Former Team on Blast: Report.. - 24\/7 News America\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Getty NFL analyst Mark Schlereth said on his podcast that Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Aaron Rodgers significantly criticized the New York Jets running game. 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