Former Rival Criticizes Patriots For Suspicious Issues At Gillette Stadium

Sunday night’s battle between the Baltimore Ravens and Pittsburgh Steelers was a wild one. The NFL regular-season finale had everything, ending in a dramatic 26-24 victory for the Steelers after Ravens rookie kicker Tyler Loop missed the game-winning field goal as time expired.

The game nearly went the other way, however, due to Aaron Rodgers’ frustrating communication issues. His helmet headset malfunctioned multiple times in the fourth quarter, causing him to burn Pittsburgh’s last two timeouts on its penultimate drive.

After the headset in his first helmet failed, Rodgers called a timeout and switched helmets. Shortly thereafter, the headset in his new helmet also stopped working, forcing him to call another timeout and leaving him absolutely furious.

Ben Roethlisberger, who quarterbacked the Steelers for 18 seasons, said he often experienced the same problem when Pittsburgh visited the New England Patriots at Gillette Stadium.

“We always wore a wristband…for that exact reason. Because every time you went to New England, the headsets went down. Coincidence? Crazy,” Roethlisberger said on his “Footbahlin” podcast this week. “But you always had a bailout. Now I just saw that Aaron doesn’t have that, so then you are in trouble.”

The Patriots were notorious for bending the rules under Bill Belichick, so Roethlisberger’s story isn’t surprising. In Rodgers’ case, however, he was in his home stadium.

Fortunately for Rodgers, he and the Steelers got things sorted out. After using their final timeout, they immediately scored a go-ahead touchdown on a two-yard run by Kenneth Gainwell, helping propel them to victory and their first division title since 2020.