It's a first in NFL history: Mike McCarthy, the Steelers' coach, and Aaron Rodgers, his quarterback, will face their former team, the Green Bay Packers, together in the preseason opener on August 13 at Acrisure Stadium.
Mike McCarthy and Aaron Rodgers will hold that peculiar meeting — albeit in a game without regular season stakes — in the Pittsburgh Steelers' preseason opener as the Green Bay Packers come to town.
McCarthy, a Pittsburgh native, grew up in the city's Greenfield neighborhood, and his coaching staff in Green Bay included numerous other Western Pennsylvania products. Rodgers, on the other hand, was first to arrive in Green Bay in 2005 as the team's first-round NFL draft pick, with McCarthy hired to coach him the following year.
Their reunion would likely carry more weight if it was coming at Lambeau Field instead of in Pittsburgh. The stakes are admittedly low as an exhibition. Still, the meeting is intriguing as a quirk of history and circumstance.
Rodgers has spoken about how his time in Green Bay and his connections to the area, including his relationship with McCarthy, contributed to his decision to join the Steelers last season. "I feel like Pittsburgh has been a part of my career from the beginning," he said upon signing with the team. "Playing for Mike McCarthy for 13 years. Having Tom Clements as my quarterbacks coach forever. Dom Capers, Kevin Greene, Darren Perry, Ben McAdoo, Frank Cignetti, Luke Getsy. I don’t want to forget anybody, but a lot of yinzers in my life."
McCarthy is more worried about his team's pre-snap penalties than the reunion with Rodgers and the Packers. "Our history there is obviously long," McCarthy said when asked about facing the Packers with Rodgers. "You think about, obviously, having personal and professional connections to Green Bay. That’s part of my life. But I’m more worried about our pre-snap penalties right now, to be honest with you."
Rodgers will likely look across the field and see another former coach in Matt LaFleur and plenty of other faces that are familiar to both men. He's been critical of exhibition games, calling them "not real football" in his comments to reporters at training camp on August 11.
Source: Yahoo Sports