Keisean Nixon Has Autographed Reminder of Key Challenge vs. Aaron Rodgers

GREEN BAY, Wis. – Aaron Rodgers said his Pittsburgh Steelers must take care of the football in order to win Sunday night’s game against the Green Bay Packers.

Few players in NFL history have been more conscious about taking care of the football than Rodgers. The one member of the Packers’ defensive backfield who was teammates with Rodgers, Keisean Nixon, has an autographed reminder.

“Yeah, he did make me better, a lot better, especially as a younger player when I was in my first year here,” Nixon, whose first season with the Packers, 2022, corresponded with Rodgers’ final season in Green Bay, said on Wednesday.

“But he’ll look you off, he’ll throw some sh** that you’ll be like, ‘Wow,’ but he also would never let you pick him off in practice. I made a big emphasis my first year here and I asked him, if I pick him off, you sign me a jersey? And I picked him off, probably not until like Week 15, 16, and he gave me a jersey. So, I appreciate ‘12’ always. Respect the player, respect the man, but he definitely a opp this week, for sure.”

Rodgers is No. 8 in Pittsburgh but he’ll always be No. 12 in Green Bay. Among all quarterbacks in NFL history with 2,000 passing attempts, Rodgers has the lowest interception percentage of all-time at 1.44 percent. Among quarterbacks with 1,263 attempts – Jordan Love’s number – he’s second behind last week’s opponent, Jacoby Brissett (1.36 percent).

The Packers finished third in the NFL with 17 interceptions last season but are tied for 24th with only two this year. What they have done well is take away big plays. Until Brissett’s 43-yard bomb to Zay Jones on a free play at Arizona, the Packers hadn’t given up a 40-yard passing play since Week 1 of last season.

For the season, Green Bay has given up a league-low 11 plays of 20-plus yards. The Rodgers-led Steelers offense has the fifth-fewest with 19.

“They’re at the top of the league in least amount of explosives in the run game and pass game,” Rodgers, who will talk to reporters in Green Bay on Thursday, told reporters in Pittsburgh on Wednesday. “So, we got to take care of the football. We got to block up their rushers. It’s not just Micah [Parsons]. Rashan [Gary] is an elite pass rusher now.

“They got good guys inside. They have some younger guys rush on the outside and can play as well. The second level, Quay [Walker], I played with him, saw him as a rookie. He’s developed and became a really good player in the league. [Edgerrin] Cooper’s a really good player in the league, as well. He’s definitely gotten better.”

The key will be Green Bay’s pass rush. While the secondary gave up a season-high four completions of 20-plus yards to Brissett, Green Bay’s pass rush got to him for six sacks. Parsons’ hat trick included two on third down in the red zone and one on the final series.

Green Bay Packers cornerback Keisean Nixon (25) wags his finger during the matchup against the Cincinnati Bengals. | Tork Mason / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Rodgers’ time-to-throw is the second-fastest in the NFL, according to Pro Football Focus, so he’s not going to just stand there and get hit. And, more likely than not, the Steelers aren’t going to let their offensive tackles get torched one-on-one by Parsons.

Parsons, Rodgers said, is a “phenomenal” player, a “game-wrecker” and one “of the very few players in the league that you actually have to have four hands on at all times.”

With DK Metcalf, the Steelers have a premier receiver. Rodgers threw four touchdown passes to his tight ends last week at Cincinnati; the Packers gave up two touchdowns to Arizona’s Trey McBride last week and have given up more catches to tight ends than any team in the NFL.

Nixon wasn’t concerned, though.

“I think people need to stop studying the outcome of things and understand football,” he said. “A lot of stuff being in zones and holes. When we play to man-to-man, we don’t really give up that much. We hear the chatter and stuff like that, but we’re confident in what we do. We don’t give up big plays a lot. When we do, it is what it is (and) we line it up next play. I think from a cornerback and safety standpoint, the DBs, I think we’re ready to go.”

Rodgers knows the challenge that awaits. The Packers are 10th in points allowed but second in yards allowed per rushing attempt and first in yards allowed per passing attempt.

The Steelers are 12th in points scored but 25th in total offense. When Rodgers said the Steelers need to take care of the football, that conversation starts with Rodgers himself. He is 22nd with five interceptions – he threw four when he won MVP in 2021 – and 26th with a 2.9 interception percentage that’s the highest of his career.

That’s why Nixon called Rodgers an “opp.”

“Love Keisean,” Rodgers said. “What a great dude. Now he’s at No. 1 corner, and he’s been playing really well. They added [Xavier] McKinney on the back end, who had a huge year last year, and definitely has been playing great since the day he got there. So, you got to be patient, and you can’t turn the ball over, and we got to block it up front.”

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