Aaron Rodgers plays the perfect game two days out from the NFL's Croke Park bow

Pittsburgh Steelers QB Aaron Rodgers. Pic: Laszlo Geczo/Inpho

Love him or hate him, there’s no way you can ignore him. 

Aaron Rodgers walked into the Drawing Room in the Pittsburgh Steelers’ team hotel outside Dublin on Friday afternoon and automatically assumed command in much the same way he has so many American football games through the last 21 years.

He had the extended huddle in his palm without opening his mouth.

This is a rare level of poise and certainty. 

His head coach Mike Tomlin is 18 years into his tenure in Pittsburgh. A Super Bowl winner and one of the biggest names on the NFL's sidelines, even he doesn’t radiate the same aura. 

Neither did any of the Irish rugby players or coaches who once held court in the same room when based there in years gone by.

The Aer Lingus Airbus A330 carrying the Steelers across the Atlantic had only touched down at Dublin Airport hours earlier and yet this 41-year old quarterback showed none of the telltale signs of an overnight flight or jetlag. He looked to all intents and purposes like just another wealthy American tourist who had spent a night snug in his five-star hotel.

The press conference was actually an odd affair with reporters from the NFL Network, DAZN, ESPN and the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette vying to ask questions about matchups and injuries and third-down conversion rates while their Irish colleagues gravitated more towards the wider context of a first regular-season game to be held on these shores.

Apart from the guy from Laois People. That dude knows his football.

“I have a family history going back to Ireland and Scotland so I always wanted to get over here,” said the Steelers’ No.8. “It is what it is but if the schedule could have been a bit different, if I could have chosen it, I would have got over on Monday, Tuesday is a day off, get to get out and see some things.

“It’s a beautiful country, it seems like, from the pictures. I know a bit of the history geo-politically of the area. I am a huge fan of the area. I don’t really drink beer, but if I do I drink Guinness, and that’s not a bullshit line that I’m telling you guys because I am in Ireland. I’m telling you the truth. I hear it tastes different off the tap in Ireland than in the States.” 

This is the spiel we come to expect when the Yanks pay a call but Rodgers displayed an ability – and a willingness - to go beyond the simplistic one-liners that can be scribbled on a cue card. 

There were thoughts on Rory McIlroy’s “transcendent” golf game, and on his summer days hanging out with Wrexham FC co-owner Ryan McElhenny in Tahoe.

No need for all six degrees of separation with this guy.

Aaron Rodgers during Steelers practice. Pic: Laszlo Geczo/Inpho

This was the considered Rodgers that we were presented with on the recent Netflix documentary. 

A small glimpse into the man who skipped a minicamp with the New York Jets to visit Egypt’s pyramids. The man who won his first and so far only Super Bowl with the Packers in 2021 and almost immediately wondered what more is out there.

His career earned him that Super Bowl, four season MVP awards, ten Pro Bowl nods, millions of dollars and the enmity of the long-suffering Chicago Bears and the rest of the NFC North during a long and regal chapter in Green Bay, and it afforded him the time and the means to open his mind in ways that have divided opinion.

He caused a furore with his claim to be “immunized” from Covid-19, has espoused frankly bizarre theories on a range of political and social issues, and made trips to retreats in Perus where he has taken the hallucinogenic drink ayahuasca. 

That he has dated high-profile racing drivers and actors feels almost boring, routine by comparison.

The NFL is a global behemoth of a body and yet Rodgers will be the one player on show in Croke Park this Sunday when the Steelers face the Minnesota Vikings who transcends the sport. 

He how to knows play the game off the field and he acted as the perfect ambassador for his franchise and for his league here.

The importance of this fixture to the Steelers owners - the Rooney family has roots in Newry - was made clearer again on Wednesday when Art Rooney II, the current boss man, addressed the roster back home in Pennsylvania. Rodgers spoke expertly about that, and the league’s expansion overseas.

He shared memories of his childhood in California when he wore out old VHS tapes of old games, expressed gratitude for his links with two legendary clubs in Green Bay and Pittsburgh, and remarked how a league that played the odd game in Canada when he started out is now active across four of the continents.

“The game has a global reach,” he said before a practice where the Steelers would emerge with Irish surnames on their backs. “The Super Bowl is watched in over a hundred countries. So we know the reach and this is like a destination game for so many fan bases that travel well and this fan base travels well so I expect a lot of Steelers fans there.” 

Rodgers is years past his prime as the league’s greatest gunslinger. No-one expects the Steelers to contest for a Super Bowl come January and yet those levels of expectations will be returned in his direction this Sunday and for the rest of the season.