Aaron Rodgers threw three touchdown passes Sunday as the Pittsburgh Steelers beat the Indianapolis Colts 34-22, improving to 3-2 on the season. The 42-year-old quarterback finished with 235 passing yards and has now thrown three touchdowns in three consecutive games.
Over that three-game stretch, Rodgers has passed for 826 yards and nine touchdowns, a sharp turnaround from the first two weeks of the season, when he had more turnovers (two) than touchdown passes (one). He did not turn the ball over Sunday, though he has still thrown three interceptions over the past three games.
Pittsburgh’s first possession went backward 15 yards before a punt, but Rodgers responded on the next drive. He connected with running back Jaylen Warren on a short pass just before taking a hit from Colts defensive tackle Grover Stewart, and Warren turned it into an 80-yard touchdown. Rodgers went on to complete his first 11 pass attempts, not missing until midway through the second quarter.
Warren had a big day overall, finishing with 188 yards from scrimmage and adding a 50-yard touchdown run in addition to his long touchdown catch.
With Pittsburgh leading 24-22 in the fourth quarter, Rodgers found tight end Pat Freiermuth for a 17-yard touchdown on third-and-6, Freiermuth’s second touchdown catch of the game, which effectively sealed the win.
The touchdown pass to Warren also moved Rodgers into third place all time in career touchdown passes, including the postseason, passing Peyton Manning. Only Tom Brady and Drew Brees have thrown more. The win gave Rodgers 166 regular-season wins as a starting quarterback, moving him past Ben Roethlisberger into fifth place all time — notably while wearing the same Steelers uniform Roethlisberger wore for his career.
Pittsburgh now sits in a tightly bunched AFC North, where all four teams have at least three wins. The Steelers travel to face Tampa Bay in Week 6 before playing New Orleans in Paris; the Buccaneers and Saints are a combined 2-8. After that, Pittsburgh faces a pair of key division matchups against the Browns and Bengals, separated by a bye week.
