Aaron Rodgers put on a show in the Steelers' loss to the Bengals on Thursday night. Rodgers threw for a season-high 249 yards and four touchdowns in a two-point loss to Cincinnati and while he did throw two interceptions, only one of them was his fault and he also got to show off the fact that he definitely still has one of the strongest arms in the league.

During his postgame press conference Rodgers confirmed that they were not supposed to be running a flea-flicker when Jaylen Warren tossed a handoff back to him in the first half. Despite that very notable mix-up, the running game was strong as Warren finished with 127 yards on 16 carries.

One of the keys to that was the play of one specific position group and unsurprisingly, it wasn't the offensive line.

"Darnell is such an important part of our offense," said Rodgers. "As you've seen us starting to take some steps offensively the last three weeks there's no surprise his snap count's gone up. So I'm really proud of Darnell. I'm proud of the other tight ends as well. We had four touchdown catches by tight ends. You know Pat had two of them and Jonnu had a nice scramble drill and I was telling Darnell during the week, on the play that he caught for the touchdown, I said I know you're six-eight, but try and get lost on this play and did exactly what I was hoping he would do on that one. I'm really proud of that guys. Especially Pat. You know, Pat's a great player and he hasn't had a lot of looks. His playtime's gone down, but his attitude hasn't. And I think there's a lot to be said for the professionalism that he's showed. Especially the last few weeks."

Pat Freiermuth was the team's leading receiver on Thursday as he caught five passes for 111 yards and two touchdowns. Jonnu Smith had three catches for 28 and touchdown and Darnell Washington finished with three catches for just two total yards, but also caught a touchdown.

If Rodgers can get D.K. Metcalf going in addition to the running game and tight ends, the Steelers really could be dangerous this season.


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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Aaron Rodgers Was Especially Proud of One Position Group After Loss to Bengals.

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