The Pittsburgh Steelers will have a change under center for their Thursday Night matchup with the New England Patriots as Mitch Trubisky will replace the injured Kenny Pickett. Despite a new quarterback, Patriots head coach Bill Belichick doesn’t think the Steelers offense will change all that much, especially on a short week.
“When you’re this far into the season, I don’t think you’d see too many teams on a Thursday game revamp and run a whole new offense. At this point, you’ve committed a lot of time and reps to what you do, and you modify a little bit for the specific opponent, but you pretty much are what you are at this point in the season. In terms of schematically, I don’t think you’re gonna put in 20 or 30 new plays this week, even if it was a full week,” Belichick said in his press conference today, per NESN on YouTube.
The Patriots have familiarity with Trubisky as Pittsburgh’s starting quarterback, as he was under center for New England’s 17-14 win over the Steelers in Week Two of last season. In that game, Trubisky went 21-of-33 for 168 yards with a touchdown and an interception. Obviously, like all offenses, the Steelers has had some tweaks since then. They also have a new offensive coordinator in interim Eddie Faulkner with Mike Sullivan as the play caller, whereas Matt Canada was calling the plays for Pittsburgh during that game last season.
The Steelers offense has struggled for most of this season, which is what the team to move on from Canada following Week 11. Belichick knows a thing or two about struggling offenses, as the Patriots’ unit is among the worst in the league last season. They do have a solid defense though, so Thursday’s game could be very low-scoring. The over/under is set at 30.5, so Vegas is among those anticipating a defensive battle.
Pittsburgh already knows what Trubisky has to offer as he started five games for the team last season. However, this will be his first start this season, although he’s seen action in three games after Pickett had to leave due to injury. He’s also used to preparing like a starter after spending four seasons as a starter for the Chicago Bears. We’ll see if he can help spark the struggling offense on Thursday against the 2-10 Patriots.
