While Aaron Rodgers has acknowledged that Sunday night’s game will be different, his former coach is treating the Green Bay Packers’ showdown against Rodgers’ Pittsburgh Steelers like any other game.
Rodgers will face his former team for the first time when the Pittsburgh hosts Green Bay on prime time. Rodgers spent his first 18 seasons with the Packers that included the last four with LaFleur as his coach.
“We’re playing the Pittsburgh Steelers who happen to have Aaron Rodgers,” LaFleur said. “I mean, it’s as simple as that. That is for you guys to talk about.
“Granted, I mean, we’ve got a lot of respect and love for Aaron. What he’s done here. He’s a Hall of Famer. I know, like our past together, we had a lot of great moments, but this game is not about that. It’s about going to Pittsburgh. ‘Sunday Night Football.’ Our guys will be jacked up. Their guys will be jacked up. It’s about the Green Bay Packers versus the Pittsburgh Steelers. And that’s for you guys to talk about all those other storylines.”
When asked if he will deliver the same message to his team, LaFleur pointed out that many of the current Packers didn’t even play with Rodgers during his final years in Green Bay.
“I’m going talk about — just like we do every week — what is our blueprint and what are our keys in order to go to Pittsburgh, which is a damn good football team, and a really tough, hostile environment, and try to play our best, because we haven’t … to date,” LaFleur said. “We’ve got a lot of work to do.”
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Tyler Sullivan
Rodgers aside, Sunday is big game for both teams from a positioning standpoint. Pittsburgh (4-2) is currently 1.5 games ahead of Cincinnati in the AFC North standings. Green Bay (4-1-1) had a slight lead over Detroit (4-2) entering the Lions’ Monday night game against the Buccaneers.
Like LaFleur, Rodgers is surely more focused on facing Green Bay’s defense than he is about facing his former team. But unlike LaFleur, Rodgers — who is already 1-0 this season against his former teams — has openly admitted that Sunday night’s game will undoubtedly be different. Rodgers did so when asked how it felt to face the Jets shortly following Pittsburgh’s Week 1 win.
“It doesn’t come close to how it’s gonna feel playing Green Bay, because that was 18 years of my career,” said Rodgers, who is hoping to join former teammate Brett Favre as former Packers legends who were able to beat their former team.
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