Steelers - 24, Vikings - 21
Q. You've said you'd like to get T.J. more involved. How did you do that today?
AARON RODGERS: The coverage dictated that. We moved them around pretty good, had some good motions to get them off some doubles. It was just coverage. He had a single on the back shoulder fade, and he had Cover 2, but we had nice play action.
That's what DK does best, man. He can really run. It was nice to get him going early.
Q. You were very candid last week about the defense carried the team last week and how they needed offense to step up. How much of a step do you think you took today in terms of getting where you need to be?
AARON RODGERS: There's been so much talk about how can we get DK more involved, how can we push the ball down the field a little bit more, and I said last week you've got to run the football, and I think today we ran the ball pretty effectively.
I thought Kenny G, Kenny Gainwell, if you're a football fan, you know who he is, and you followed his career. It seemed like every time he went in the game, for me as a football fan with Philly, I was like, man, this guy is really good. He should get more touches. When I came here, I knew what kind of player he was. I tell him all the time, he's an absolute baller.
So any opportunity he gets. Kenny has been great all year and making himself a lot of money.
Q. Aaron another broken record today for you. What does that mean to you, the fact that you're at the back end of your career and still getting accolades?
AARON RODGERS: Yeah, it's the twilight of my career. I wouldn't say back end. I used to say five, six, seven years ago I was on the back nine. I'm teeing off on 18 right now.
By the way, what happened in the Ryder Cup? Europe is smashing them still? That's too bad.
Q. Another record you come away with is the longest (indiscernible). Would you talk about the history today, just the emotion and the atmosphere?
AARON RODGERS: I thought the atmosphere was outstanding. I come out early. In most NFL stadiums there's two hours when the stadium opens and it starts to trickle in. Somebody came back in the locker room at like 11:00 and goes, man, there's a ton of people out there already. I was like, yeah, we're not in the states anymore. This is a different type of fan.
I loved it. I thought the crowd was fantastic. A lot of terrible towels there, but I felt like there was probably some good old Irish getting in the mix too waving those towels around a little bit. The music was great. The fans were cool. The field was pristine. I thought the field was really, really good. Conditions were good.
We had a nice sunny Irish day. I feel like a normal Irish day is overcast and drizzling. I thought it was extra, extra nice today. The whole experience was fantastic. Shout out to the country and everybody who made this happen. Win or lose, I would have said the same thing. I just felt like the reception from the people here was outstanding.
Q. Do you think with everything Dublin has done they deserve an NFL game in the future?
AARON RODGERS: 100 percent.
Q. Are you happy with the progress the offensive line is having?
AARON RODGERS: Get banged up a little bit. I thought Spence was a good player for us today and was a good addition. I thought Art did a nice job of mixing in the heavy personnel sets where Spencer was playing tight end for us, and we had some effectiveness running the football out of those sets, which was great.
They played a lot of two shell. They brought some pressure early, and we hit them with some vertical getting the ball out quickly. Other than the first play and the one that got slung down, I thought the protection was really good all day. They didn't bring their typical zero empty pressures, but I thought we ran the ball well, and that kind of kept them off balance.
Q. Did your feelings about the Vikings, after your years with the Packers, make winning extra special today?
T.J. WATT: Yes, definitely. Just leave it at that, yes.
Q. You had a conversation with Coach on the sideline, and Coach came out after and said he's happy you're having conversations that contribute to win. Take us behind the decision for that.
AARON RODGERS: Well, it's 24-14, we're on the 3 yard line. We score, it's a three-score game. We make the extra point, 17-point lead, game's over. We don't get it, they've got to go 60 yards to get in range for a field goal. They're two scores down. We kick a field goal there, it's 27-14. Yeah, it is 27-14. We kick the ball off, they get the ball in the 35, kind of in the average start position around the NFL. They've got to go 65 yards to score. To me, it was worth it to try and end the game right there.
Q. How does it feel to be on a new team and still be able to beat the Vikings?
AARON RODGERS: Well, I wish I would have beat them last year on that other island east of here. That would have been three teams.
Look, there's been great battles with Minnesota. The Packers' biggest rival is the Bears, but the interstate rival between Wisconsin people and Minnesota people, I feel like is more -- they don't like each other a lot more.
Q. Big picture, this is your first International Series. It's big for the Rooney family for a game in Ireland. Big picture what does it mean for the Rooneys and Pittsburgh?
AARON RODGERS: I'm not going to share exactly what he said last night, but it was definitely impactful. Coach T talked about his relationship with the late great ambassador Rooney and how much he meant to him and how much Ambassador Rooney loved football, loved the guys, and loved his appointment here in Ireland.
Me personally, I'm a little older, so I appreciate the history. There was a lot of us that wanted to win it a little bit more for the family, knowing how much affection they have for this area. I enjoyed that talk last night from Coach T. Again, I really enjoyed everything that we experienced here.
It was a short trip, but from the moment we landed, the security guys over at the Carlton House were hilarious. The Guinness was good in downtown Dublin. It will be a nice flight back with hopefully a yearly return by us or two other teams.
Q. Are you going straight back, or are you going to do a little sightseeing?
AARON RODGERS: We're going to go over to Dublin, hit some pubs, and take off. No, we're going straight back.
(Laughter).
Q. Aaron, I saw that you were gesturing a lot to the sideline during the game. I'm curious --
AARON RODGERS: Which one? Which sideline?
Q. To your sideline, Coach T. I was curious how the communication is going, how the in-game adjustments are going. It's a new team for you, and a quarter of the way through the season, how is that relationship going with your coaches?
AARON RODGERS: It's great with Mike T. I 100 percent wasn't gesturing at all to him.
Q. I don't mean that negatively. I just saw you communicating.
AARON RODGERS: I'm not saying it negatively. Just I gestured to Mason or to Art or tell somebody to tell Arthur to call the play again because somebody was talking to me or I forgot it or something. That's just normal there.
I love working with Art. I love coming to work with the quarterback room that we have. The last two times we came overseas, it was tough. We lost a close one to the Giants and lost a one-score game to the Vikings last year. You just know what kind of flight that is back.
Any road victory is special, but it's extra special when you go back seven or eight hours and get to be with your boys and enjoy. Even though it was closer than we want it to be, but just enjoy and reminisce about how fun the last three days were.
Q. (No microphone)?
AARON RODGERS: ESPN wrote a click bait headline taking my words out of context, which isn't the first time. I was answering a question about my desire all three times we came overseas was to come early in the week, especially if you have a bye week afterwards. Some of that is out of the control of the teams. Some of it might be.
But I would always love to get on the time frame that you're in, time zone, and get to enjoy the area a little bit more, especially with Ireland, the history, ancestors I have from this region, but also just hearing about the country and what it's like and being able to see some stuff would have been great.
That is obviously not the focus. It's a business trip. We understand that. But being the older guy, being around a long time, just would have loved one time out of these three to have the entire week to do it.
Again, no complaints about the three days we spent. Only desires for more time with you great Irish people. That's all.
Q. Would you come back by yourself?
AARON RODGERS: Are you guys still going to have Guinness here? Yeah, probably.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports