The Green Bay Packers have plenty of noise to shut out ahead of their Sunday night matchup with the Pittsburgh Steelers. In case you missed it, Aaron Rodgers is playing his old team.
While coaches on both sides understandably don't want to paint the showdown as Rodgers vs. Jordan Love, there is one hyper-important aspect of the game that brings that perspective into a meaningful light.
Whether the game turns into a passing clinic shootout or both teams play ground-and-pound clock control, the trench battle on both lines of scrimmage will be one of, if not the biggest, deciding factors as both teams face equally unrelenting pass-rush units.
SNF matchup pits the Packers' and Steelers' pass-rushers in a true showcase
Neither Love nor Rodgers has been sacked to an overwhelming degree this season. Love has been sacked just 10 times, while Rodgers has only been sacked nine times. Both teams have had their fair share of impressive pass-rush units to face early in the season, so the low marks for both quarterbacks are impressive, especially with the question marks surrounding both offensive lines.
Still, the two quarterbacks have two common opponents heading into Week 8: The Cleveland Browns and the Cincinnati Bengals. Neither defense sacked Rodgers over the past two weeks. The Bengals got to Love once, while the Browns sacked Love five times.
RELATED: Mike McCarthy just dropped a Packers-Aaron Rodgers quote that turned SNF into cinema
Rodgers hasn't been sacked since Week 4, an impressive outcome after getting sacked nine times up to that point. Rodgers, of course, is a big reason for that, rather than his offensive line. He gets the ball out of his hands faster than any quarterback in the league, and against Cincinnati, he showed that even at nearly 42 years old, he can still create some space in the backfield if the play breaks down.
To be fair, though, Cincinnati didn't have Trey Hendrickson. Rodgers isn't going to be scrambling from one hash to the other with Micah Parsons and company chasing after him.
While both teams are giving up a somewhat surprisingly manageable number of sacks to this point in the season, the pass-rushers on both squads are nothing short of elite. The Steelers are fifth in sacks with 22, while the Packers are only four sacks behind them. The Steelers have generated 70 pressures, the sixth-highest mark, and the Packers are only seven pressures behind.
There are two transitive ways to look at this to favor either team. Either you favor the Packers and say Rodgers can't run away from Parsons, and No. 1's motor will get him to the quarterback eventually if the old veteran plays the quick game. Or you favor the Steelers and say that if they could shut out Myles Garrett, they can shut out Parsons.
The transitive property doesn't exist in football, though. The reality is that both teams have a wealth of great pass-rushers who can aid the elite stars in Parsons and T.J. Watt. And whichever one makes the biggest impact might just decide the game.