It all started so well. And then it fell apart.
For two quarters, it looked like Aaron Rodgers might conjure one of those nights, the sort that ends with a smirk, a wink, and a reminder that he can match any of the league’s young pups. It was the first time in his career that he played against Green Bay, where he spent nearly two decades, won four MVPs and a lone Super Bowl. But the NFL rarely cares for nostalgia.
The Packers’ 35–25 win over the Steelers became something more revealing: a portrait of where both teams – and both quarterbacks – stand.
The Steelers took a 16-7 lead into the half. The game was played at their speed. They ran the ball effectively, Rodgers spread it around efficiently and kicker Chris Boswell nailed three 50-plus efforts to take the lead.
But things flipped in the third quarter. The Packers have a young, athletic defense with All-Pro-caliber players at every level. And for two quarters, they made Rodgers look old. Up front, Micah Parsons ripped through double and triple teams. In the middle, Edgerrin Cooper and Quay Walker patrolled with speed and range, thumping everything in sight. On the back end, the Packers’ secondary – with an average age of 26 – flew to the ball, anchored by deep safety Xavier McKinney.
It was a sharp contrast to Rodgers’ Steelers, who are built in a different image: heavy, methodical, defined by structure rather than creative freedom. Their offense runs through jumbo personnel packages, leaning on the ground game and trusting Rodgers to convert on third downs. It works when everything is tidy. But when the rhythm is disrupted or they fall behind the sticks, this version of Rodgers can no longer bend a game to his will.
He’s 41 now, and the signs are visible. The brain still sees the openings, but the legs can’t quite keep up. His age has hamstrung his creativity; the moments where he used to escape, reset, and improvise have waned. Rodgers remains one of the most efficient quarterbacks in the league. He is money in the quick game, getting the ball out in a flash to anyone and everyone. He finished the night 24 of 36 for 219 yards and two touchdowns. That efficiency is a poor substitute for the magic of old.
There are still glimpses here and there, like his early bomb down the sideline to Roman Wilson. It was a throwback to the old Rodgers, bouncing around the pocket, extending a play and whipping a deep shot beyond the coverage. A few plays later, he hit DK Metcalf on a slant for a touchdown, the kind of timing throw that only looks simple because he’s made it so for 18 years.
That version of Rodgers remains dangerous. He can win games. But after the half, the Packers’ defense cranked up to a different level. They dared Rodgers to hold the ball, escape the pocket and make plays on the move. He couldn’t keep up.
Rodgers spent the second half with his eyes on Parsons, even when there were options down the field or Parsons wasn’t in his area code. The Green Bay-era Rodgers would have moved and found open targets. He’d have pointed and laughed at Parsons. But on Sunday, he couldn’t avoid the near-constant pressure and was harassed on more than 50% of his dropbacks and dropped three times.
This is how it goes with ageing players: the mind is still willing, but the body isn’t always able. Rodgers has created more out of structure over the past three weeks than at any time in the past two seasons, but against one of the league’s better fronts, escaping without being rocked was his only victory.
Instead, he was forced to watch Jordan Love do his best impression of peak-Rodgers on the other side of the field. Love was sharp and decisive, completing 29 of 37 passes for 360 yards and three touchdowns, spreading the ball to 10 different receivers. At one point, he had completed 20 passes in a row, taking the easy stuff underneath, ripping heaters down the field and showing off his playmaking chops.
“He played great, played fantastic,” Rodgers said of Love post-game. “He’s had a really nice season. He’s been really efficient with the football. He’s opportunistic, though. I felt like he was very patient tonight. They took the run solutions. He took the checkdowns, moved in the pocket well. He played outstanding.”
For the Packers, this is what progress looks like. They have the look of a team gelling at the right moment, one that can control the game on either side of the ball. For the Steelers, it was another reminder that experience alone doesn’t guarantee anything. Their plan – to grind, to lean on veterans and trust their defense – can only go so far. They have the league’s most expensive defense, but their big-name secondary was carved open by Love all night. Their roster sits in the league’s familiar middle ground: capable of beating anyone, vulnerable to everyone.
Still, even in defeat, this was Rodgers’ night. We have lived with many variations of Rodgers over his 21-year career. Young Rodgers. Post-Favre Rodgers. Arrogant Rodgers. MVP Rodgers. Defiant Rodgers. Kooky Rodgers. Sad-Jets Rodgers. The is-he-finished Rodgers. But Sunday was a fresh take. Rodgers was almost wistful. He didn’t snarl at a former team, as he did in Week One after beating the Jets. Asked about the “Go Pack Go” chants that filled the Steelers’ stadium as the game slipped away, he smiled. “I heard that chant for 18 years,” he said. “Packers fans travel really well. First time in a while I’ve used silent count for a home game. That’s a credit to those Packers fans.”
This seemed like a Rodgers at peace. He recognizes where he’s at. The arm is still there. His brain still works at double speed. But football’s clock keeps ticking – and he can no longer match the league’s best throw-for-throw. In seeking to join the rare club of quarterbacks who have beaten all 32 teams, he fell short. And he watched from the sideline as he experienced something he inflicted on the league for 18 years: a Green Bay quarterback shredding a defense with a combination of precision and wow throws. The passing of the torch was almost too on the nose.
MVP of the week
Tua Tagovailoa, QB, Miami Dolphins. For a week, Tagovailoa was a punchline. After the worst performance of his career, he looked adrift, unsure of himself, his team and how long he would remain in Miami. Then Sunday happened. The Dolphins rolled into Atlanta and right over the Falcons, 34-10, behind a throwback performance from their quarterback.
Tagovailoa completed 20 of 26 passes for 206 yards, four touchdowns, no interceptions, and a passer rating of 138.6. He was efficient when in rhythm and showed off his playmaking chops out of structure, throwing a dart on the run to Malik Washington to give the Dolphins an early lead.
Seven days earlier, the headlines were about excuses and errant throws. Tagovailoa had tried to explain away his struggles by half-heartedly lobbing teammates under the bus, then doubled down with a scattershot display against Cleveland that ended with him on the bench. That was the version with two working eyes. This week, Tagovailoa played through an infection that left his left eye swollen. “Probably one of the worst experiences I’ve had in terms of waking up,” Tagovailoa said post-game. “I’m just glad I was able to go out there and play.”
Somehow, one-eyed Tagovailoa saw everything clearly. Back in his role as facilitator, he helped snap Miami’s three-game skid and, for now, silenced the noise about his job security.
Stat of the week
Five. That’s the number of sacks Myles Garrett put up against the Patriots. The best pass-rusher in the league put on a show in New England, despite the Browns being leveled 32-13. Garett had a hat-trick of sacks in the first half, two of them in the red zone to end drives and one forcing a fumble. He finished with seven pressures, one of them flushing Drake Maye from the pocket and forcing the quarterback into an interception.
Garrett is a one-man avalanche. But watching him annihilate the Patriots while the Browns are blown out on the scoreboard felt like the perfect microcosm for his career. Do you think he regrets rescinding his offseason trade request in exchange for a bumper payday? Garrett cited a “desire to win” when he asked out of Cleveland. Nothing has changed since then, except for his market-resetting contract. Even when he puts together a historic performance, the Browns cannot hang with upper-tier teams.
Video of the week
When your team’s owner publicly criticizes your ability to throw the forward pass, what do you do? You call for your running back to throw the ball with the game on the line, obviously. That’s what Aaron Glenn and the Jets did to complete a comeback, 39-38 win over the Bengals.
The chutzpah!
After Woody Johnson’s critique, Justin Fields put together his most efficient game of the season, completing 65% of his passes. That may say more about the Bengals’ defense than the Jets’ offense, but Fields was able to take advantage of Cincy’s ropey group in the fourth quarter, leading three touchdown drives in the fourth quarter.
Credit to Glenn, too. Down 14 late in the game, the Jets scored and then went for two. The initial try was ruled short, but Glenn challenged the ruling and it was overturned, making it a six-point game. Both decisions – going for it and the challenge – paid off, with the late touchdown allowing the Jets to kick an extra point to take the lead.
Glenn has had a touch of Nathaniel Hackett-itis early in his head coaching tenure. He has consistently bungled the clock and mismanaged his timeouts. But with his team staring down another disappointing loss, he took the gutsy, albeit analytically minded move, and it hit.
Elsewhere around the league
It was another historic day for Josh Allen. He became only the second quarterback in league history with 70 career rushing touchdowns, rushing for two scores as the Bills beat the Panthers 40-9. Coming off a bye, the Bills’ offense was stodgy early. But their defense forced turnovers, and the offensive line manhandled the Panthers. Bye weeks are a time for teams to self-scout. It feels notable that Buffalo opted to run their offense through their two most reliable options: running back James Cook and receiver Khalil Shakir. The pair combined for 304 yards and three touchdowns on 25 touches. It wound up a blowout. But the usage of Cook and Shakir signaled that the Bills will be active before the trade deadline, hunting for another explosive receiver.
There was more tush-push controversy in Philadelphia. On fourth-and-one, Jalen Hurts leapt forward on the push and reached the ball out to clear the line to gain. As he reached, the ball was ripped out by the Giants’ Kayvon Thibodeaux. But the officials blew the whistle for forward progress, canceling out Thibodeaux’s turnover.
You can't possibly call this forward progress and call the play dead. You just can't.
He's literally getting pushed. The point of the TUSH PUSH.
Everything about how this is being officiated is rough.pic.twitter.com/121n8uO815
— Jordan Schultz (@Schultz_Report) October 26, 2025
It was a ridiculous call. The shove already has enough ingrained advantages without officials calling forward progress on a play designed to have a player pushed forward. It eliminates any risk for Hurts when he reaches out for the first-down marker. Add that to missing blatant false starts, and the play becomes literally indefensible. If Thibodeaux’s rip is not a fumble, then the case against the push will no longer be about the spirit of the play (a laughable claim, anyway) but rather that the officials and the rulebook are not equipped to handle it.
The Jets’ win was overshadowed by the death of their longtime center Nick Mangold, who was seeking a kidney transplant, at the age of 41. Mangold spent his entire career with the Jets and was universally popular across the NFL thanks to his humor and approachability. He was also an excellent player: a seven-time Pro Bowler, a two-time All-Pro and a strong candidate for induction in the hall of fame. He was married with four children. “One of the kindest people I’ve ever met,” wrote former Jets running back Thomas Jones on social media. “One of the greatest interior linemen to ever play the game.”
The Colts wagon rolled to 7-1 behind another huge day from Jonathan Taylor. Indy’s running back scored three touchdowns in a 38-14 win over the Titans, marking the fourth time this year he’s scored three touchdowns in a game. Eight weeks in, Taylor should sit near the top of any MVP standings.
The Cowboys were thumped 44-22 by the Broncos. For the first time this season, Dak Prescott looked frazzled, struggling to break down Denver’s blitz-and-disguise defense. With the offense struggling, Dallas had no chance. The defense spent another Sunday afternoon struggling to slow down the run, rarely worrying the quarterback, missing tackles, blowing assignments and failing to cover anyone down the field. It feels like the masterplan of fielding a mini-Bengals in the NFC is not going to work.
The Giants lost running back Cam Skattebo, who had become a cult hero in his rookie season, to a gruesome ankle injury in their defeat to the Eagles. He will almost certainly miss the rest of the season. “I saw him on the ground with his leg trapped,” said Giants offensive lineman Greg Van Roten. “When he pulled it out, you could see his foot was the wrong way. Obviously, that is not normal. I just wanted him to stay down, called the trainers out, get the cart. Put the [ankle] back basically. It’s hard to see stuff like that.”
