This will be my first (and likely my only) criticism of Mike Tomlin, ever.
Mitchell Trubisky was good enough to start the Jets game; otherwise, he wouldn’t have.
Kenny Pickett – based on preseason and practice – wasn’t the guy who gave the team the best chance to win; otherwise, he would have started.
Those aren’t my opinions, they are the opinions of the Steelers coaching staff. Otherwise…well, you know.
So whatever changed, it happened on the field Sunday afternoon. Did Coach T let a crowd of rowdy, drunken 20-somethings make the most important decision of his career (Ke-nny! Ke-nny!)?
No, of course not. Don’t be stupid. It would be stupid to think something like that, or post it on Twitter.
The roadmap coming into the year was very similar to 2019: win with your defense, don’t lose with your offense. That’s why they brought in a Check-down Charlie like Mitch. That’s who he’s always been and that’s the kind of player they said they wanted him to be.
Mitch took deep shots when he got one-on-one coverage but other than that they were constantly playing for third-and-manageable with hitches and quick outs. They weren’t converting those third-and-convertibles and that’s frustrating, but you know what frustrates me more?
Not making a play in the final six-an-a-half minutes against the Patriots. Giving up 171 rushing yards to the Browns. Only managing 1 sack against a Jets team with their last two OT’s.
I think Tomlin realized at half time – down 10-6 to the meager New York Jets – that he could no longer rely on a TJ Watt-less defense to win games. Even with stars at every layer of the defense (Heyward-Jack-Fitzpatrick) he was losing battle after battle and watching the war slip away.
Which means the game plan needed to change. The offensive focus shifted from “don’t lose” to “go out there and steal us one.” Mitch was the better QB to “not lose” (a Minkah pick-six in any of those three losses probably turns them into wins) the game but the ceiling is higher with Kenny.
Despite spotting the Jets 4 points (and 14 unanswered in the 4th) he still put a ball in play in the end zone that could have won it. Our old friend the Results Bias would tell us this justifies the change.
Quick aside: Remember how Ben was constantly throwing behind the sticks on third down last year? This year Najee Harris is 28th in rushing yards (202); he’s 43rd in Y/C (3.5) so don’t start with that “but they’re not sustaining drives…” BS. Have you seen his quads?
It’s almost as if they weren’t/aren’t being put in a position to succeed…but it’s easier to replace the starting quarterback mid-season than the offensive coordinator.
Steely Cam 