NFL Week 6 reactions and overreactions

Let's talk some football, including a random college football coaching take (that is also connected to this week's NFL head-coaching change).

We talk some football this week including some big takeaways from the Pittsburgh Steelers, the Brian Callahan and James Franklin firings and how they are somewhat related and more.

1. My expectations for the Aaron Rodgers experience with the Pittsburgh Steelers were shockingly low before the season. So much so that I did not even want anything to do with it. I envisioned a washed up quarterback that tried to run things his way and airing all of the team’s dirty laundry during a weekly Pat McAfee show appearance, all while the team played like garbage.

In other words, everything he did with the New York Jets.

It is still early. The Steelers are still winning, which masks a lot of things and makes it easy to be a good teammate and chill dude, so I kind of want to see how this changes when they lose a couple of games. But so far the Rodgers experience has been the exact opposite of what I anticipated.

While I still think he looks like he’s closer to toast than his prime at times (I thought the first half of Sunday’s 23-9 win over the Cleveland Browns was rough, and he missed some passes he needs to hit), he has performed significantly better than I anticipated. The offense actually looks like a functional NFL offense. Not great. Functional. Certainly better than it did a year ago, or two years ago, or, hell, even five years ago.

The most shocking thing, however, is that he has mostly been kind of … chill?

There does not seem to be any issues. He has kind of slid under the radar. He is not on national TV every week causing chaos.

He is just going about his business.

None of this is what I anticipated. I am happy to be wrong. I hope it continues.

I imagine it will as long as they are winning. That fixes everything.

2. I have a couple of theories for why the Rodgers experience is going the way it is.

The first is that he knew the Jets were not a serious franchise and treated his entire time there as such. The McAfee appearances. Forcing his offensive coordinator in. Making them get all of his preferred wide receivers. Perhaps he knew they were never going to win and wanted to try and do things his way.

Perhaps he respects Mike Tomlin and the Steelers organization more than he respected the Jets coaching staff and organization.

Instead of trying to force in his people and do things on his terms, he is mostly doing things with the Steelers’ roster and on their terms.

It is just a totally different vibe.

The second theory — and the more likely theory — is that he simply knows this is it for him in the NFL. This is the only chance he is going to get, and if he goes out having embarrassingly failed with two different organizations that is going to be a pretty big stain on his legacy and reputation.

He will still be remembered as an all-time great with four MVPs and a Super Bowl ring, but it is very much a what have you done for me lately sports culture. That Super Bowl was 15 years ago. It has been years since he played at an MVP level. All anybody is going to remember is the end. If he fails here the way he failed with the Jets, that would be bad. He can pretend to not care what people think about him all he wants, but athletes care. They always care. They also get motivated by different things. Not going out looking like a giant dumbass is a hell of a motivator, I would think.

Or maybe it is just six weeks and the other shoe still has yet to drop. We shall see.

3. As for the rest of the Steelers offense, as ugly as it looks at times there are a lot of things I am liking about this. I like that the offensive line has taken a big step forward each week. I like that the running game is picking up. I love DK Metcalf. That dude is just an absolute maniac with the football in his hands. An insane runner. He and Rodgers also seem to have developed quite a connection.

I also love the Franken-tight end thing the Steelers have going on with Darnell Washington, Jonnu Smith, Pat Freiermuth and Connor Heyward. They combined for eight catches, over 100 yards and a touchdown on Sunday, and you had to get down to the fourth name on the depth chart before you got to the guy that actually scored the touchdown.

Washington seems to be taking over the position in terms of snap count, and it is not hard to see why. He is becoming a legitimate force on the offense, not only due to his run-blocking, but also the fact he is a matchup nightmare for defenses in the passing game.

Arthur Smith loves the tight end position as part of his offense, and he might have the best tight end room in the league. I like the way he is using them.

4. On defense, I can not say enough about Jalen Ramsey or the trade that brought him (and Jonnu Smith) to Pittsburgh. Just an absolute game-changing trade for both sides of the ball. I am not sure how to say it other than this: Ramsey is a Steeler. He is everything you want a Steeler to be. The mindset. The physical play. The play any position versatility. He has been incredible, and the way they have used him all over the defense has been masterful. Opposing offenses have no idea where he is going to lineup on any given play (Outside corner? Slot corner? Free safety?) or what he is going to do. He has been strong in coverage. He has played the run well. He has been a effective blitzer. Just a huge addition.

I also love what they have going on with their outside linebackers, and how similar it is to their depth at tight end on offense.

I honestly do not want to hear about trading Alex Highsmith because of the emergence of Nick Herbig. I want T.J. Watt, Highsmith and Herbig all on the team, and the Steelers are better off for it. Not only because of the depth it provides in the event somebody gets hurt (because they all do), but because of the way they can rotate people in to keep each of them fresh and the way they can use all three at the same time in obvious pass-rushing situations. I will even include Jack Sawyer into that because he stood out on Sunday as well.

The way those four guys dominated the Browns offensive line on Sunday was a clinic. You keep them all. You play them all.

The only other point on the defense that I want to make: Patrick Queen has been awesome this season and we are not talking about it enough. The defense is starting to get it together after a tough start.

Now it is time to talk about the rest of the NFL Week 6 slate, as well as a random Penn State-James Franklin take that is also intertwined into the big NFL head-coaching change this week.

Let’s talk about it.