Ben Roethlisberger began his starter run in Week 3 of the 2004 season. A Tommy Maddox injury led to that seminal switch. Eighteen years later, the Steelers’ new first-round quarterback prospect looks like he will need to wait longer.
Although some pro-Kenny Pickett chants broke out at Sunday’s Patriots-Steelers game, the No. 20 overall pick will not replace Mitch Trubisky. While acknowledging Trubisky can be more aggressive with downfield throws, Tomlin said he is exercising patience with his quarterback (Twitter link via ESPN.com’s Brooke Pryor) and offensive coordinator.
“I’m not happy with much of anything when we just lost a game, but I’m also experienced enough to see the big picture, that we are still very much in development,” Tomlin said, via The Athletic’s Mark Kaboly, when asked about OC Matt Canada‘s play-calling. “I’m going to exercise appropriate patience and continue to teach and ask the guys to continue to learn in an effort to continue to push this train down the track and get better.”
This does not represent a logical week to make a switch. Following Thursday’s Browns matchup, however, a transition window opens. Trubisky’s play will dictate how much longer he has as Pittsburgh’s starter, though Pickett’s development may be a bigger factor at this point.
Pittsburgh’s offense struggled during Roethlisberger’s final season, ranking 25th in DVOA. It has offered two low-wattage performances this year. Trubisky, who has attempted 15 throws at or behind the line of scrimmage this season, enters Week 3 averaging 5.1 yards per attempt. Excluding Dak Prescott‘s one-game sample, that mark ranks as the league’s worst. Neither Chase Claypool nor second-round pick George Pickens have surpassed 30 receiving yards in a game this season.
Trubisky is not expected to keep his job throughout this season, but his two sub-200-yard performances magnify Pickett’s development. The Steelers have a Week 9 bye. Although Trey Lance, Jordan Love and Patrick Mahomes are exceptions, with their teams planning longer NFL onramps, every first-round quarterback chosen from 2017-21 had been elevated into the starting lineup by Week 10. (That list expands to 2012 if Paxton Lynch and Johnny Manziel are excluded.) With it being more norm than exception for QBs to begin their starter runs by October of their rookie year — Trubisky took over in Chicago in October 2017 — how long Pickett waits looks like it will be rather important to the Steelers’ contention prospects.
The Steelers promoted Canada from quarterbacks coach to OC last year. He replaced Randy Fichtner. Pittsburgh ranks 30th in total offense, and Najee Harris is averaging 2.9 yards per carry. Even Trubisky called on Canada to be more aggressive, though the second-year OC has not yet worked with an above-average quarterback or much offensive line talent. The offense’s performance Thursday in Cleveland certainly will be a hot-button topic.
“Call concepts to get receivers there,” Trubisky said, via Pryor, on the subject of downfield passing. “When the coverage dictates that, get them the ball within that. … We like our outside matchups. We’ve got really good receivers. We’ve got really good talent across the board. We’d like to attack all areas of the field and get the ball to our playmakers. So, we could do a little bit better at everything, for sure.”
The worst part is this realistically sets up Canada to be fired and we give Pickett 2 OCs in two years. Never good for early stage QB development. Then again they’ll just in-hire, so “the standard” will remain
The standard of going 10-7 and losing in the first round?
Let’s go Rich Brewmixy!
Need to go to Pickett the guy had like 50 college starts so it’s a bit of a different situation than a guy who’s more of a project.
Not a huge fan of Canada. The Steelers have a top 10 receiving corps and while the line is bad they need to be more aggressive with some downfield shots.
Some people just aren’t cut out to be play callers. Maybe Canada is one of them.
Wasn’t a great play caller at Maryland either.
They left Roeslisberger’s multiple sexual assaults out of the timeline.
Code for “we know our O line is terrible and if we play the kid, he gonna die”
Tomlin never accepts responsibility for his team’s problems, just spouts pithy nonsense. Canada needs to go, but so does Tomlin. People need to stop making excuses for him. The Buck stops with the head coach.
So it’s Tomlin’s fault they no longer have a HOF QB and now have less talent on the roster than in the past? I think Mike is probably the most underrated HC in the league. Steeler fans won’t appreciate his value until they have to replace him.
The Tomlin haters are mostly very naive. Tomlin has his warts, maybe more now than before, but the man is a great leader and is very under appreciated overall.
Managing the egos of Big Ben, Bell, Brown and James Harrison would test any HC and I think Mike was particularly strong in that area.
“Blame Canada! Blame Canada!”
Trubisky has been a problem, but the offensive play calling is a much bigger problem. There’s only so much anyone can do back there right now. Having said that, Trubisky has to stop settling for dump offs and at least look downfield once in awhile.
Agree 100%
Trubisky isn’t the answer at QB with his sub 200 yard games. And it was Pickett who ran the offense the best this offseason. Give Trubisky two more games to prove otherwise but I’m all in on Kenny Pickett starting.