Mitch Trubisky has taken his fair share of criticism for the current state of the Pittsburgh Steelers’ offense. The unit has shown flashes in their first three games of the season but continues to falter when the team needs to close out games and put points on the board. Trubisky is aware of the team’s struggles in recent weeks but believes that these issues can be corrected with more practice and better execution from every man in the huddle.
“It really comes down to execution,” Trubisky said to the media Wednesday prior to practice on video from Chris Adamski’s Twitter page. “Just being more detailed in our work, and when the plays are there, which they have been on film, we just got to make the plays. I feel encouraged after going back and talking through it and looking through it, so we’re motivated to have a great week and come back and put it all together.”
The ongoing trend for the Pittsburgh Steelers on offense this season has been execution. RB Najee Harris has stated numerous times that the scheme can work if everyone executes it and does their individual jobs well in order to stack successful plays on top of each other to effectively move the offense down the field and put points on the scoreboard. Trubisky is in the same camp as Harris, stating that there have been plenty of plays on tape that are there to be had, but the offense needs to be better at their execution to capture those plays and be more effective.
While the offensive line has appeared to improve in recent weeks, Pittsburgh’s third down efficiency still has been dreadful, as the offense can’t seem to stay on the field and put together drives. Last week against Cleveland, Pittsburgh was 1-of-9 on third down conversions, which is unacceptable for an offense that had the lead coming out of the half with possession of the football to start the third quarter. They posted three three-and-outs in the second half as Cleveland jumped out in front and held the lead for the rest of the contest.
Whether it be third down efficiency, run success rates, or pass completions 10+ yards down the field, Pittsburgh’s offense needs to execute better in all phases to take an offense that is near the bottom of the league in most statistical categories back to relevancy to make a playoff push. Here’s hoping the offense can get back on track this Sunday against the New York Jets who appear to be Pittsburgh’s best matchup the next several weeks prior to the bye.
