“I’m a historian.”
These three words, echoed by Steelers Quarterback Aaron Rodgers perfectly reflect his, the Steelers, and the NFL’s attempt to pay homage and respect the sacred grounds of Croke Park, Dublin, and Irish culture as a whole. With that being said, many in the American football stratosphere would have argued the best way to do so is by delivering an entertaining, heavyweight bout between two contenders, with the home team, the Steelers, who as highlighted by so many within the organization, have such deep roots within Ireland that connect to the “late, great” Ambassador Rooney, emerging victorious. Well, that’s exactly what happened.
Dan Rooney (1932-2017) was the United States ambassador to Ireland within President Barack Obama’s administration, where he served from 2009-2012. Prior to his time in Ireland, he worked within the Steelers Football Operations department, starting as director of personnel, and ultimately working his way up to general manager. The Steelers have been owned by the Rooney family since its inception in 1933, and Dan ultimately assumed responsibilities as owner after his father’s death in 1988. Rooney is largely known in America for his advocacy of minority groups in the NFL. This ultimately sparked major change with the implementation of the Rooney Rule in 2003, a rule named after Dan.
The Rooney rule, per the NFL’s guidelines, is “one part of the NFL’s effort to develop a deep, sustainable talent pool at all levels of the organisation…. Through hiring best practices, the Rooney Rule aims to increase the number of minorities hired in head coach, general manager, and executive positions.” In essence, the Rooney rule makes it a requirement to interview minority candidates in addition to non-minority candidates. While it certainly is not perfect and could benefit from a few changes, it was an incredibly helpful and welcomed change that was incited by Rooney, when the NFL saw a distinct lack of minority head coaches leaguewide. In 2007, Rooney and the Steelers hired Head Coach Mike Tomlin, who was the first African-American head coach in franchise history, and the 10th in NFL history. Tomlin, who is still at the helm for Pittsburgh to this day, was incredibly outspoken, and at times emotional when referencing his relationship with Rooney. During media availability after Sunday’s win vs. Minnesota, Tomlin said he addressed the team regarding Rooney, and what this game means to their family. “We talked a lot about the late great ambassador Rooney last night. I know he’s smiling at us today. It’s just an honour to fulfil his vision, to bring NFL football to Dublin. I’ve been thinking about him a lot on a personal level.”
On the field, the game took many twists and turns, both offensively and defensively. Offensively the downfield attack picked up as the game went on, with two 80 yard plays. The first was to wide receiver DK Metcalf on a slant, which he caught about 13 yards (11.9 metres) deep and ran it for 67 yards (61.3 metres) the rest of the way. The second happened in blown coverage, when Vikings Quarterback Carson Wentz threw a bomb downfield to wide receiver Jordan Addison, who nearly took it for a touchdown, but was tackled at the one-yard line. Both Quarterbacks played generally speaking, mediocre games, with Wentz adding zero Expected Points Added per play (EPA/Play, 42nd percentile) and Aaron Rodgers adding 0.10 EPA/Play (55th percentile).
Defensively, both teams switched up their base coverage looks significantly more than usual, with a mix of aggressive man coverage, conservative zone coverage, and exotic blitzes. The Steelers recorded a season high six sacks and ten tackles for loss, with their well-established and highly paid pass rush attack putting on their best display of the season thus far at Croke Park.
Behind said effective pass rush, the Steelers emerged victorious by a final score of 24-21, though the Vikings did make it interesting at the end, scoring 15 points in the fourth quarter to cut Pittsburgh’s once 18 point lead to 3. During media availability, Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin gave credit to the competitiveness Minnesota displayed, citing their premier coaching and fight. “It was just a great trip… We made it a little more entertaining than maybe it should have been, but the Vikings had a lot to do with that. That group (has) got a lot of fight. They’re well coached.”
Overall, Pittsburgh was confident coming into this game with veteran and legendary Quarterback Aaron Rodgers under centre. At media availability prior to the match, the University Times asked coach Tomlin if Rodgers’ experience gives Pittsburgh an upperhand coming into a neutral site, atypical environment. “On a personal level, it’s fun to work with Aaron. I like to work with a guy that has a relationship with the game that he has. He loves to work, he loves football, he loves all the things that come with it, and day to day just in terms of those things, it makes it a fun experience to learn and grow together–to compete. He’s fully engaged in all of those things and so it’s been a good experience.”
Generally speaking, this was a regular season game with a twist: a celebration of history and intersections of cultures. Both organizations, in addition to the present fans, saw the likes of the Galway band CLADA perform all game, in addition to plenty of Irish trad music throughout the competition.”
“No doubt we’ll be back”, said NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell, when asked if this will be the first of many NFL Dublin matches.
With Additional Reporting by Harper Alderson
