Aaron Rodgers is not backing away from DK Metcalf after the Steelers wasted chances through the air. On Sept. 16, Rodgers said he is not worried about Metcalf at all and said he will keep feeding him, even after a game in which a drop and missed opportunities helped change the outcome.
That is why the Steelers schedule conversation around the passing game is landing now. Rodgers did not frame the issue as a problem with Metcalf. He called the receiver one of his closest friends on the team and said one ball to him was a play he usually catches, which is a direct vote of confidence from the quarterback after a rough night for the offense.
Rodgers also pointed to several plays that could have gone differently. He said the Steelers had a pass interference call on third down that could have become a touchdown, that there was a blatant pass interference on Metcalf that was not called, and that the team had a chance to hit Roman Wilson down the field with what he believed was probably another missed call. He added that the Steelers had Metcalf in the end zone and that it was for sure pass interference. His point was simple: the box score can hide how many chances disappeared before the final result did.
That is also why the next step matters more than the debate over one drop. Rodgers said he plans to keep targeting Metcalf, but he stopped short of saying the Steelers would overhaul anything in the passing game after the missed plays. The open question is not whether he trusts the receiver. It is whether the offense turns those same looks into completions the next time the ball comes his way.
The wider backdrop is older than the game itself. Steelers.com published the comments in Asked and Answered: Sept. 20, a Q&A column, and the piece also answered a jersey-history question that reaches back to Pitt Stadium. The Steelers wore white at home in 1969 during Chuck Noll’s inaugural season, then switched to black at home after Three Rivers Stadium opened in 1970. The opinions in that column were presented as those of the writer, not the Steelers organization.
For now, Rodgers is making his stance plain: Metcalf is not the problem, the missed chances were. What the Steelers do with that on the next passing series will say more than any postgame explanation can.
