Steelers' Aaron Rodgers Says He Has to Do 'Better Job' Using Legs After Sacks vs. Jets

There wasn't a lot of bad for Aaron Rodgers as he led the Pittsburgh Steelers to a 34-32 victory over the New York Jets in Sunday's season opener, but he did take four sacks.

And to hear the 41-year-old tell it, he was responsible for some of those sacks.

"I don't think I was moving that well, so I think I ran kind of into at least one or two sacks," Rodgers said Wednesday while revealing his back was "a little tight" during the game, per ESPN's Brooke Pryor. "I got to do a better job of using my legs. I might be old but I still feel like I can move around pretty good and I wasn't moving the way I usually like to move.

"I thought the protection was good for most of the game. There's a couple fundamental things to clean up, but [offensive line coach] Pat [Meyer]'s taking care of those guys, and I just got to get the ball out."

The back and pressure from the Jets didn't stop the future Hall of Famer from going 22-of-30 for 244 yards, four touchdowns and zero interceptions.

▶️ Full Steelers-Jets Recap

06:00

It surely frustrated New York fans that he played so well against their team after he struggled for much of the 2024 campaign as the Jets quarterback, but he dialed back the clock in an impressive performance.

The Pittsburgh offense also needed all of those points, the final three of which came on a 60-yard field goal from Chris Boswell, because Justin Fields played so well on the other side in the battle of quarterbacks going against their former teams.

Fields went 16-of-22 for 218 yards, one touchdown and zero interceptions while adding 48 yards and two scores on the ground in quite a debut performance for the Jets.

Yet it came in a loss in large part because of Rodgers' individual brilliance, even if he wasn't happy with himself for taking so many sacks.