There’s no revenge game like an Aaron Rodgers revenge game, and he gets to face his former franchise for the first time in his career on Sunday night at 8:20 p.m. ET in the Packers vs. Steelers matchup on NBC/Peacock.
Rodgers noted this week that he plans to retire as a Packer, so we can assume there’s no animosity between the 2005 first-round pick and the Green Bay organization, who drafted his successor in QB Jordan Love in 2020.
The Packers, it should be noted, mirrored Rodgers’ development by sitting Love for a few seasons and letting him learn behind the future Hall of Famer before trotting him out in 2023.
Check out our Packers vs. Steelers prediction, Sunday Night Football pick, and stats you should be aware of for this primetime showdown.
Packers vs. Steelers Prediction, Sunday Night Football Pick
The Steelers and Packers have plenty to play for in this prime time battle, so let’s take a look at some stats and preview both sides.
Green Bay Packers Preview vs. Steelers
The Packers come into this game 4-1-1, yet are still looking for some semblance of consistency on offense after extremely winnable games vs. the Cincinnati Bengals and Arizona Cardinals turned into nail-biting finishes that rarely looked polished.
Some of the issues on offense could certainly stem from the wide receiver corps, with WR Jayden Reed out for at least several more weeks, WR Christian Watson yet to make his season debut after a 2024 ACL tear, and first-round rookie WR Matthew Golden still trying to find his footing.
On the defensive side of things, the run game has been extremely solid, but the secondary has had its underlying issues. In the last three weeks, the Packers have given up 7 passing touchdowns and 1 rushing touchdown, with zero takeaways through the air.
Takeaways in general have been a weak spot for this defense, with only 2 interceptions and 1 forced fumble so far in the two months of the season.
Pittsburgh Steelers Preview vs. Packers
The Steelers definitely took a minute to blossom this season — remember when they gave up 32 points to the Jets in Week 1?
However, things have settled for The Black and Gold, despite a tough loss to QB Joe Flacco and the Bengals last week. Rodgers has looked solid, completing 73.2% of his passes the past three weeks while throwing for 7 touchdowns and only 2 interceptions...and you can make the argument that neither interception last week was his fault.
The Steelers have been rather healthy on both sides of the ball lately, and WR2 Calvin Austin should also be back for this game after missing the last two outings.
One player the Steelers need to watch out for is Packers DE Micah Parsons, given that a big reason for Rodgers’ run of good play lately is that he’s only taken 2 sacks in the last three games. How the Steelers offensive line handles the All-Pro menace could be a big part of the result to this Sunday Night Football matchup.
Packers vs. Steelers Same-Game Picks for PrizePicks
Here are two Packers vs. Steelers same-game player picks for Week 8, spotlighting key projections to watch for Jordan Love and Aaron Rodgers.
You can choose More or Less on these projections on PrizePicks — along with plenty of others — for a chance to win real money this NFL season.
Steelers QB Aaron Rodgers Projections vs. Steelers: 1.5 Pass TDs
There was always one thing you could count on with Aaron Rodgers, and that was his play in the red zone. It also happens to be one of the Packers’ few defensive weak spots, with the secondary having given up the fifth-most fantasy points per game to the QB position inside the 20.
This year, Rodgers is performing as impressively as usual, with 10 touchdowns to 1 interception in the red zone, per FantasyPros. He owns the highest completion percentage among qualified QBs and has favored his tight ends, who the Packers rank 31st in fantasy points allowed to.
Rodgers has hit this projection in four-of-six games.
Packers QB Jordan Love Projections vs. Steelers: 64.9 Completion Percentage
The Steelers have allowed the quarterbacks they’ve faced this season to post completion percentages of:
- Justin Fields (New York Jets):72.7%
- Sam Darnold (Seahawks): 66.7%
- Drake Maye (Patriots) 75.6%
- Carson Wentz: (Vikings): 65.2%
- Dillon Gabriel (Browns): 55.8%
- Joe Flacco (Bengals): 65.9%
Outside of a weird London game for Gabriel, who was making his second career start, the Steelers have allowed every single QB they’ve faced to have more than Love’s 64.9 completion percentage projection.
Comparatively, Love has also been very consistent this season, with a season-long completion percentage of 69.3% through 6 games and also only having one start where he didn’t have more than his projection for this game.
The Steelers rank in the bottom third of the league in defensive stats against the QB almost across the board, so we could see Love have a very efficient game against them in this matchup.
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