With preseason action behind them and the 53-man roster and practice squad starting to take shape for the Pittsburgh Steelers, things are starting to come together on the South Side. Second-year offensive coordinator Matt Canada wouldn’t reveal the most important roster decision for the black and gold during his Tuesday media availability, though.
Asked if the Steelers had made a decision regarding the starting quarterback job Tuesday morning, Canada deflected the question upstairs to Mike Tomlin, which wasn’t surprising. However, he did expand on his thoughts regarding the three quarterbacks, stating he believed all three played well in training camp and the preseason, and that he liked how all three performed in the midst of the competition, according to video via the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review’s Chris Adamski.
“I think, coming out of camp and preseason, to have all three of those guys, the level they played at…like I said last week, there’s plays here and there they’d want back, bad plays here and there, but as a whole, the way all three guys played throughout camp and in preseason, we’re very pleased with them,” Canada said to reporters, according to video via Adamski.
Canada, Tomlin and the rest of the Steelers’ coaching staff and front office should feel very pleased by the performances of all three quarterbacks in Mitch Trubisky, Mason Rudolph and Kenny Pickett. All three made it a difficult decision, as far as how snaps were divided in training camp and the preseason due to the high level of play all three showed.
Not one player struggled and lost a spot by default. All three showed flashes of their traits throughout the preseason and really made a case for the starting job. Whomever lands the starting job for Week 1 in Cincinnati against the Bengals on Sept. 11 certainly earned the role moving forward, which is how the coaching staff wanted it to play out.
Having three capable quarterbacks might seem like a problem for the Steelers, at least from the outside, but it’s a great problem to have, especially in the first year post-Ben Roethlisberger. So far, the rebuild at the position after an 18-year run is going about as well as the Steelers could have hoped.
Now, it’s about continuing that strong performance into the games that count.
