Aaron Rodgers has achieved practically all the pieces in his NFL profession, however he has by no means performed a regular-season recreation in Eire.
No person has. Not less than, that will probably be true till Sunday.
The Pittsburgh Steelers (2-1) and Minnesota Vikings (2-1) will make historical past after they sq. off in Dublin.
The Steelers have recognized concerning the highway journey since February, after they have been introduced because the “house” crew, and the Vikings have been revealed because the opposing crew in Could.
But no one knew for positive then that Rodgers can be a part of the abroad showdown. He signed with Pittsburgh later within the offseason and has handed for 586 yards, seven touchdowns and three interceptions by means of his first three begins.
Rodgers, 41, ranks fourth all-time with 510 landing passes. The one gamers forward of him within the report guide are Tom Brady (649), Drew Brees (571) and Peyton Manning (539).
“This recreation means quite a bit to all of us,” Rodgers stated. “To the league. To the Rooney household (who personal the Steelers). And so we need to signify the crew and the Rooney legacy nicely.
“Being part of the primary recreation in Eire is fairly cool. I’ve Irish heritage, so I am very excited to get on the market.”
The Steelers will go for back-to-back wins after topping the New England Patriots for a 21-14 highway victory final weekend. Rodgers discovered Calvin Austin III for a 17-yard, go-ahead landing with 2:16 remaining to place Pittsburgh on high for good.
Minnesota additionally goes for back-to-back victories. The Vikings cruised to a 48-10 house win over the Cincinnati Bengals final week in Carson Wentz’s crew debut.
Wentz will make his second straight begin at quarterback instead of J.J. McCarthy, who sustained a excessive ankle sprain in a Sept. 14 loss in opposition to the Atlanta Falcons. In his Vikings debut final week, Wentz accomplished 14 of 20 passes for 173 yards and two touchdowns with no interceptions. He recorded a powerful 129.8 passer score.
This week, Wentz will welcome one other playmaker within the passing recreation. Jordan Addison is ready to make his season debut after finishing a three-game suspension that stemmed from an arrest in 2024 by which he allegedly was driving underneath the affect.
Wentz and Addison labored collectively in observe this week to develop some on-field chemistry.
“Quite a lot of issues are nonetheless type of firsts,” Wentz stated. “So, simply throw him into the combination as nicely. Clearly, I’ve seen his recreation from afar. Extraordinarily gifted, the way in which he will get out and in of breaks, the competitiveness.”
Addison rejoins All-Professional wideout Justin Jefferson, who has 12 catches for 200 yards and a landing by means of the season’s first three video games. Jordan Mason seemingly will get the majority of the work at operating again as soon as once more with veteran Aaron Jones on injured reserve.
The Steelers have dominated out injured linebacker Alex Highsmith (ankle), however they hope to welcome again a pair of different gamers. Cornerback Joey Porter Jr. (hamstring) and security DeShon Elliott (knee) each took half in restricted drills on Wednesday after every missed the previous two video games.
“(They) definitely have an opportunity,” Steelers coach Mike Tomlin stated. “We’ll work with these guys this week and let the quantity of their participation and the standard of their participation be our information. …
“Well being and soccer readiness and conditioning at instances could be various things, so we’ll watch these guys shut, and (we) could make acceptable choices on the latter a part of the week.”
–Discipline Degree Media
