Aaron Rodgers: ‘I was happy to beat everybody associated with the Jets’

If you didn’t think Sunday was a revenge game for Aaron Rodgers, think again.

The 41-year-old quarterback played his first game in the black and gold for the Pittsburgh Steelers and, as the NFL schedule makers love to do, there was a built-in storyline for his debut. Rodgers returned to MetLife Stadium to take on his former team, the New York Jets, after one lackluster season and another lost to injury for Gang Green.

And Rodgers made the most of it, throwing for 244 yards and four touchdowns as the Steelers eked out a 34-32 road win to open the season. Asked during his press conference after the game if this win meant a little bit more having been against his old team, Rodgers didn’t hold back.

“There were probably people in the organization who didn’t think I could play anymore. It was nice to remind those people I still can,” he said. “I was happy to beat everybody associated with the Jets,” the quarterback later added.

Tell us how you really feel, Aaron!

But, in all seriousness, Rodgers does have some grounds on which he could feel slighted by the Jets and specifically head coach Aaron Glenn. Glenn has repeatedly dodged questions about Rodgers and dismissed the veteran quarterback’s relevance to this season. Of course, Glenn was also one of the primary decision makers for the Jets when they decided to move on from Rodgers during the offseason.

It’s also fair to say that Rodgers shouldn’t feel slighted by the Jets. After all, the veteran quarterback did nothing to advance the Jets’ on-field performance during his two years in New York, so any reasonable observer can’t fault the team for moving on. SNY’s postgame show seemed to think as much.

But as an athlete, that reality check has to sting. And it’s probably why Rodgers had a fire in his belly on Sunday afternoon.