Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Aaron Rodgers came away impressed with one rookie following Sunday's loss to the New England Patriots. It's not one of his teammates, though... "Great (expletive) job, man,” Rodgers told New England rookie Gabe Jacas on Sunday, per video shared by Morey Hershgordon of 7 Boston.
"You just kept trying to take my head off." "It was pretty funny to have that interaction with him," Jacas said in the locker room after the fact, per NBC Sports Boston. "I came up to him after the game, he was cool." Jacas definitely deserved the praise, as he wrapped up the afternoon with an interception and three quarterback pressures on the all-time great -- with one of the pressures leading to a moment where the two laughed on the field together and the interception serving as the first in the rookie's career dating back to youth football. "It was just surreal because I never had a pick before in my career," Jacas said.
"...It was pretty cool to get the first pick against Aaron Rodgers." Jacas has come on strong during the first two weeks of his career, picking up the first sack of his career in the second quarter of the season-opener in Seattle and his first interception one week later against Pittsburgh. It's somewhat surprising, too -- not because he doesn't have the pedigree as a second-round pick but because he missed the majority of training camp with an injury and contract issues. Jacas has received plenty of flak for his contract situation from head coach Mike Vrabel, but his response to the ribbing has been to work hard and show up at 6:45 a.m. every morning to work on different striking methods and pass-rush moves with his head coach prior to the start of team meetings at 8 a.m.
The Patriots are going to need him to continue to progress after injuries struck Sunday. Dre'Mont Jones went down with a shoulder injury and was quickly ruled out. Harold Landry III has yet to be activated this season.
Jacas, sophomore Elijah Ponder, and rookie Quintayvious Hutchins are the only other edge defenders on the active roster, so there will be plenty of pressure on the former to step up and prove himself worthy of the spot in which he was drafted. If he can do that, we could be seeing just the start of a truly special rookie season at One Patriot Place.
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