New England Patriots
“There may have been a few of us on the sideline who had a very tiny, quiet ‘go’ on that play.”
Gillette Stadium has served as a house of horrors for Aaron Rodgers and the Steelers over the years.
When factoring in New England’s lopsided triumph over Pittsburgh in the 2016 AFC Championship Game (36-15), the Patriots have won six of their last seven matchups against the Steelers in Foxborough.
The lone outlier over that extended stretch was a 33-10 Pittsburgh win on Nov. 30, 2008 — during a season where Tom Brady was sidelined due to a torn ACL.
While Rodgers is only in his first season with Pittsburgh, he also hasn’t had much success at Gillette.
Even though he’s 3-3 against New England in his career to this point with both the Packers and Jets, he’s 0-2 in Foxborough.
But even with those setbacks against the Patriots, Rodgers did share one fond memory of his previous meetings with New England — especially a game in 2010 where Rodgers was sidelined and backup Matt Flynn was under center.
“We had a chance,” Rodgers said Wednesday of his previous matchups at Gillette. “We were up five last year with like two minutes left, and they hit a big, big pass. We were tied with them going into the fourth in ’18, and then got beat by a couple scores. I didn’t play in 2010.
“Matt Flynn played, played well, but we gave up one of the greatest plays I’ve been a part of in my NFL history. And that’s when Dan Connolly had a kickoff return that almost went for a touchdown.
During that nationally-televised Sunday Night Football showdown between the Patriots and Packers, Connolly — a 313-pound guard — nearly found the end zone after fielding a squibbed kickoff and rumbling 71 yards down the field before getting tackled at Green Bay’s five-yard line.
Connolly’s return served as the spark needed for New England to erase what was a 17-7 deficit at the time en route to an eventual 31-27 victory.
“Hated that it was against us, but as a lover of the big guys, when they get the opportunity to show the athleticism, there may have been a few of us on the sideline who had a very tiny, quiet ‘go’ on that play,” Rodgers said. “But, yeah, be nice to get a win there.”
Rodgers, 41, is expecting another tough matchup against a Patriots team that is looking to post back-to-back wins for the first time since Oct. 30-Nov. 20, 2022.
“They’ve got some new players,” Rodgers said of New England. “Those guys are playing well. Both of their big acquisitions in the offseason — 97 [Milton Williams] and 2 [Harold Landry] have been off to a good start this season. It looks like a [Mike] Vrabel defense, the way they fly around, the different looks they got. Aggressive blitzing nature that they do. So they’re playing good on defense.”
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