The Pittsburgh Steelers do not get much time to break down the 20-10 loss to the Jacksonville Jaguars on Sunday afternoon. Rather than having a full week to prepare for the next opponent, the Steelers will take on the Tennessee Titans on Thursday night. With players like S Minkah Fitzpatrick and QB Kenny Pickett unable to finish the game on Sunday, the Steelers probably would prefer more time for key players to get healthy.
However, for the players who are healthy, a quick turnaround can be a blessing so the miscues and mistakes cannot take hold and cause problems. There’s not enough time to dwell on the performance in a short week. QB Mitch Trubisky spoke with the media after the game, and the topic of playing again so quickly came up during his press conference.
“Just gotta prepare on a short week,” Trubisky said via video courtesy of the team’s YouTube channel. “That’s the job. So we play on Thursday, sometimes that’s a positive thing because you get to flush this game quickly. Get that taste out of our mouth and just get back to the game on Thursday. So we gotta flush it, and everybody’s gotta prepare and get ready to go for Thursday night.”
Trubisky played the entire second half Sunday due to Pickett’s rib injury he suffered late in the first half. Trubisky finished the game with 15-of-27 for 138 yards, one touchdown, and two interceptions. It was his first extended action of the 2023 season after having five attempts and three completions for 18 yards in the blowout 30-6 loss to the Houston Texans earlier in October. Trubisky did engineer a scoring drive that was capped by a 22-yard catch-and-hurdle touchdown to WR George Pickens.
Other than that touchdown, which required another crazy play by the alien known as George Pickens, the offense was lackluster for large stretches of the game. The defense had another largely good game, especially with Fitzpatrick out for more than half of it, but Jacksonville was able to take advantage of a communications miscue for a long touchdown. Then you factor in the team’s issues with the referees, and it was another disappointing game day.
The Steelers have only a few days before they will be back on the field again against Tennessee and QB Will Levis, who threw for four touchdowns in his NFL debut to win on Sunday. That will certainly require a lot of attention, and no player can afford to get distracted by the disappointment of the Jaguars game. Trubisky seems to think that this short week is a blessing in this situation. We will find out come Thursday night.
