Two younger quarterbacks engaged on a subject almost 20 years in the past would come to pay dividends for the Pittsburgh Steelers. Looking for their footing within the league, Aaron Rodgers and Tom Arth joined Inexperienced Bay Packers head coach Mike McCarthy to work on soccer’s fundamentals through the 2006 offseason. Rodgers turned a legend. Arth didn’t. However they’re reunited in Pittsburgh with the frequent purpose of main the Steelers to a postseason look and ideally, advancing to Divisional Weekend.
Arth spoke to reporters throughout final week’s necessary minicamp, recalling these days of studying the fundamentals of quarterback play.
“It was Mike McCarthy’s first yr in Inexperienced Bay,” he mentioned by way of the group’s YouTube channel. “We went via the quarterback faculty, which is sort of a well-known deal for Mike McCarthy. And it was so helpful for me. A lot of what I imagine as a coach and the way I coach the basics of taking part in the quarterback, and actually even simply schematically. A lot of that I can take again to my time in Inexperienced Bay and being round Coach McCarthy and in that quarterback faculty.”
Arth spent only some months in Inexperienced Bay that yr and wasn’t carried on the regular-season roster. However the data he gleaned carried over into his teaching profession that started a short while later. Arth returned to his alma mater at D-III John Carroll, the place he had starred and was named the college’s No. 1 participant in historical past, even rating above Don Shula and London Fletcher.
He moved up the teaching ranks from FCS to FBS head coach earlier than being employed by Brandon Staley, whom Arth first employed at John Carroll, because the Los Angeles Chargers’ passing recreation coach in 2022. Pittsburgh tabbed Arth to function its quarterbacks coach final season.
As we wrote about, Arth’s core beliefs heart on footwork. Rodgers remarked to reporters Arth has the smoothest dropback he’s ever seen. It didn’t translate into an incredible NFL profession, Arth is greatest identified for serving as a third-string quarterback behind Peyton Manning. However because the adage goes, those that can’t do, train. Arth is considered a high quality instructor and he credit McCarthy for the crash course in quarterback play.
“It was so helpful for me,” Arth mentioned of the time. “It was enjoyable. It was simply Aaron and I. We had been the one two there.”
Now, Arth is tasked with serving as Rodgers’ seemingly last quarterbacks coach. Arth and the Steelers made progress with QB Justin Fields a yr in the past, turning him from a participant no group considered as a starter, not even Pittsburgh, into touchdown a beginning cope with the New York Jets.
At this level of Rodgers’ profession, there may not be a lot to show him. He is aware of all of the tips. However Arth nonetheless serves in assist and the 2 appear lockstep on how a quarterback is meant to play, a promising preliminary signal into how their relationship will work now that they’re participant and coach as a substitute of teammates.
