Coming off of a rather frustrating loss to the New England Patriots, 17-14, in the home opener at Acrisure Stadium Sunday, seemingly all of the attention regarding the Pittsburgh Steelers surrounds the offensive performances that the black and gold are current putting together.
Much of the criticism centers on quarterback Mitch Trubisky and offensive coordinator Matt Canada as the Steelers have scored just two offensive touchdowns in two weeks and have yet to crack 300 total yards in either game this season.
That doesn’t sound exactly like modern era offensive football, does it?
For NFL.com columnist Adam Schein, much of the criticism should be given to Trubisky, whom Schein is not a fan of, calling the Steelers offense “amateur hour” with Trubisky on the field in his latest column for the flagship website.
“From the outside looking in, the quarterback battle seemed pretty even in August, with the first-round pick ( Kenny Pickett) showing advanced processing skills during the preseason. In a results-oriented business, Trubisky’s effort on Sunday — 21 of 33 for 168 yards with one touchdown and one pick — just doesn’t cut it,” Schein writes regarding the Steelers offense, particularly Trubisky, for NFL.com. “Not with the weapons he has at his disposal. Mitch is averaging just 5.1 yards per attempt this season. On passes of 10-plus air yards, per Next Gen Stats, Trubisky owns a completion rate of 39.1 percent and a passer rating of 46.5. Amateur hour.”
Talk about a take.
Granted, it hasn’t been pretty whatsoever from the Steelers offensively through two games, but it’s not all on Trubisky, nor is it all on Canada. It’s going to sound like a serious hedge, but it’s a “both” issue in Pittsburgh high now. As hard as that might be to believe, it’s the truth.
A switch to Kenny Pickett this early in the season isn’t going to magically fix the offensive struggles at quarterback, nor is firing Canada going to fix the offensive woes from a play call and design spectrum.
Instead, the two need to get on the same page and do what the offense is most comfortable doing. There needs to be a rhythm offensively with the play calls, allowing Trubisky to settle in nicely, and there needs to be more of an urgency from Trubisky to push the football down the field.
It feels like amateur hour right now for the Steelers offense, but blaming one guy right now is a major swing and a miss from Schein.
