Steelers vs. Patriots: Aaron Rodgers Chases Philip Rivers’ Record as Mike Tomlin Nears Chuck Knox’s Milestone
The 21st and likely final regular season of Aaron Rodgers’ career is officially under way, and there’s a slew of all-time records on the table for both him and his newfound head coach, Mike Tomlin. The Pittsburgh Steelers are a bastion of football history, but thanks to Rodgers, there’s now a pair of opportunities for the franchise to add that much more to its rich existence.
Starting with Rodgers, the former Super Bowl champion has 63,399 career passing yards, currently good for the seventh most by any quarterback in NFL history. Although, heading into his Week 3 match up against the New England Patriots, Rodgers needs just 42 passing yards to break Philip Rivers’ record to become the sixth all-time leader in passing yards.
With a current average of 223.5 passing yards per game, Rodgers is on track to finish this season with 3,800 passing yards. That’d grant him a career total of 67,199, which would be enough to dethrone Ben Roethlisberger for the fifth overall spot in the all-time rankings, all while wearing a Pittsburgh uniform.
Then there’s the perennial winning head coach, Mike Tomlin. Thanks to a Week 1 win against the New York Jets, the 53-year-old veteran now has 184 career wins as a head coach, the 12th most of any head coach in NFL history.
Tomlin is just two wins shy of Chuck Knox’s career total. Three more wins is all he needs to jump him in the all-time rankings, and assuming that he’s able to maintain his career-long streak of winning seasons, Tomlin will finish the 2025 regular season with no less than 193 victories.
A winning record in 2025 would put Tomlin in a tie with the second-to-last head coach of the Steelers, Chuck Noll, and it would also see him officially earn the title of being a top-10 head coach when it comes to producing wins.
Anything less, however, and Tomlin will have to wait until 2026 before he can begin to rival his predecessor. The Steelers hit a bit of a road bump in Week 2, losing 31-17 to the Seattle Seahawks, who are anything but world beaters.
Pittsburgh pursued Rodgers simply for the fact that they are hoping to end their postseason drought as soon as possible. The franchise hasn’t won a playoff game since 2016, even though they’ve managed to reach the postseason five times since then.
Unfortunately for them, things haven’t gotten any easier. Patrick Mahomes is still present, the Baltimore Ravens look as strong as ever, and Josh Allen is taking the league by storm right now.
Suffice to say, if Rodgers and co. want to find their first playoff win together, then they’ll need to improve upon the form that they showed in Week 2. Otherwise, this potentially historic campaign will go out with a whimper rather than the sound of broken records.
Nick Sirianni sheds light on Jordan Davis' incredible transformation as Eagles prepare for Week 3 vs Rams
Philadelphia Eagles defensive tackle Jordan Davis not only shedded some weight, but also grew as a leader in the locker room this offseason, and it hasn't gone unnoticed on the football field or in the eyes of head coach Nick Sirianni.
Ahead of Sunday's Week 3 matchup against the Los Angeles Rams, Sirianni took a moment to highlight how far the Eagles' former first-round pick has come.
Nick Sirianni Raves About Jordan Davis and His Growth
"He’s obviously playing at a very high level right now and he’s worked really– I love when guys worked their butts off to achieve their goals and help the team win, and he’s obviously done that," Sirianni said. "Probably had to go through a lot of questions about him early on and just his mental toughness to be able to push through that and just continue to grow and develop as a player has been awesome. The shape that he’s in, he’s obviously worked really hard to be in that shape, and he is showing that out on the field and that consistency."
Davis, who dropped 26 pounds this summer, has recorded 11 combined tackles (six solo), two passes defended and no sacks through the first two weeks of the season.
He's clearly much happier this season, and it's rubbing off on everyone around him, which is what a great leader deso.
"Obviously, Jordan Davis is well-liked in the locker room, well-liked with the coaches," Sirianni continued. "I mean, he’s a guy that when he comes into this building, brings a smile on to everybody’s face. You’ve seen him, you’ve talked to him, right? You can’t be around Jordan Davis and not leave that conversation feeling good about yourself and good about your team and everything like that. That’s a special quality that he has.
"Obviously happy for him that he’s worked so hard to be playing at this level, but the person is top notch, the teammate is top notch, and he’s tough, he’s talented and then has all that other stuff. We talk about that in the draft quite a bit is like when a guy loves football and he’s tough and can go through the ups and downs of a season, those guys usually, God willing, reach their ceiling."
