Aaron Rodgers thinks Ben Roethlisberger could successfully call plays as an OC
Former Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger has been getting some buzz recently to take over as the Steelers offensive coordinator. Roethlisberger has been critical of current Pittsburgh OC Matt Canada over the first few weeks of the season as the Steelers offense has struggled to score.
New York Jets quarterback Aaron Rodgers made his weekly appearance Tuesday on The Pat McAfee Show and was asked about Roethlisberger’s potential as an offensive coordinator.
Rodgers had mixed thoughts on the idea. He believes Roethlisberger could do a great job calling plays. But he says the history of great players moving into the coaching realm is not a long, rich one.
“I think very few guys could do it,” Rodgers said. “That’s why you don’t see a lot of great former players coaching. I think I have some ideas about that. But I think it tests the patience coaching people who aren’t able to do or process things as quickly as you were able to when you were playing…Now when it comes to calling plays, I would probably echo the same sentiment that Ben said. I think that there’s a few guys who could really do it. Ben was like me, probably some of the last quarterbacks in league who could just call their own plays.”
Rodgers said that one situation where Roethlisberger used to thrive was in the two-minute drill. Roethlisberger would call his own plays, Rodgers recalled.
He said not many quarterbacks have the freedom nowadays, and he’s seen it cause some tempo issues this season.
“I always loved watching him in those situations; they’d be behind by a couple scores maybe or in the two-minute drive,” Rodgers said. “Everything now with most teams is coming from the sideline. I think you saw it in this last week, times where the tempo on certain things in some of these two minute drives with quarterbacks who could actually call it probably was delayed or screwed up by having to get a call in from the sideline in some crunch time situations that maybe hurt those teams opportunities to come through in those situations.”
One person who has suggested Roethlisberger take over as the offensive coordinator is McAfee. He made the suggestion in the middle of September prior to this weekend’s struggles. The Steelers lost to the Texans this past Sunday as Kenny Pickett suffered a bone bruise in his knee.
Rodgers said that while great players coming back to coach is rare, he does think Roethlisberger could do it for two reasons.
“I think Ben could do it just because he understands the game and he could call it in his sleep at the line of scrimmage,” Rodgers said. “But it’s very rare that you see great players who come back and are able to be great coaches. I don’t know if it’s just the time commitment or dealing with people that don’t see the game the same way.”