QB Mitch Trubisky spoke with the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review’s Tim Benz on his podcast Breakfast with Benz and talked about how training camp has gone thus far, detailing the relationship of guys in the quarterback room as well as key points of emphasis QB coach Mike Sullivan has been teaching Pittsburgh’s passers.
Trubisky was asked by Benz if there is more of an emphasis between explosive plays and finishing in the red zone to start training camp. Trubisky responded by ranking the two categories while providing a third category that factors into the explosive play component of the game.
“There’s definitely a few emphases for us,” Trubisky said. “I would say number one is finishing in the red zone, number two explosive plays. And then the other thing that kind of goes along with the explosive plays is run after catch. And for the quarterback’s responsibility, it’s giving ’em accurate balls for our runners to be able to run after they catch it.”
Trubisky putting red zone offense number one on his list makes sense for several reasons. You can have all the explosive plays you want to get you into the red zone, but if you are constantly settling for three points instead of seven, that is going to affect the outcome of games. The Steelers struggled in the red zone last season, seeing a slight improvement over the back half of the year, but overall need to be better at finishing with touchdowns once they cross the opponent’s 20-yard line.
Explosive plays are another vital component of the game that Pittsburgh hasn’t been the best at in recent seasons. According to Steelers Depot’s very own Clayton Eckert, Pittsburgh was the worst team in the NFL last season in adjusted explosive plays on offense (OAEP). Based on Eckert’s study, Pittsburgh’s total explosive play number on offense was 52, which tied for 26th in the league, but ranked last in the league in each of the following: double-explosive plays (three), triple-explosives (none), explosive touchdowns (two), and an OAED of only 70. Needless to say, the Steelers need to prioritize connecting on more big plays down the field and generating more YAC as Trubisky mentioned as a component of explosive plays.
Trubisky is right when saying it’s the quarterback’s responsibility to give his receivers accurate balls they can catch in stride down the field or in open space to create after the catch. That is an aspect that Pittsburgh also tended to struggle with last season as Trubisky and Kenny Pickett would often underthrow or overthrow their intend targets down the field, resulting in a missed completion or a big play that could have been bigger.
Regardless, the offense needs to produce better results in 2023 in the red zone and explosive play department from a season ago. The personnel has greatly improved since last season, but it’s up to Pickett and OC Matt Canada to be on the same page to get the offense flowing, resulting in more points on the scoreboard.
