The quarterback position hasn’t been a bright spot for the Pittsburgh Steelers in recent seasons. 2021 was the swan song of future Hall of Famer Ben Roethlisberger as his age caught up with him, causing a dip in his play. However, the position hit a new level of low the past two years with Kenny Pickett as the team’s primary passer with Mitch Trubisky mixing in. Sure, Pickett has delivered flashes of brilliance with some late-game heroics, but from a passing yardage and touchdown standpoint, he and Trubisky have a lot to be desired.
You could point to the overall state of the offense to explain Pickett’s historically low touchdown totals through nearly two NFL seasons as the offense as a whole has looked miserable for most of the last two years. Still, when looking at other teams across the league and how their backup quarterbacks are performing in-place of their starters, it raises the question pertaining to if Pittsburgh truly has someone they can rely on for average production in the quarterback room.
Just today we saw QB Joe Flacco get another win as the Browns starting quarterback in-place of Deshaun Watson who is out for the season with a shoulder injury. Flacco completed 63.6% of his passes for 374 yards and two touchdowns. He did tos three picks in the same performance, but throw three games as the Browns starter since getting signed off the street, Flacco has throw for over 250 yards and two or more touchdowns in each contest. By comparison, neither Pickett or Trubisky has recorded one game with over 250 yards passing an 2+ touchdowns since last season.
Flacco isn’t the only backup quarterback outplaying the Steelers’ quarterbacks this season. We saw both Chargers QB Easton Stick and Raiders QB Aidan O’Connell throw for multiple passing touchdowns on Thursday night with Stick passing for 257 yards and three touchdowns to one interception while the rookie O’Connell threw for 248 yards and four scores in the Raiders’ route of the Chargers.
The game prior to Pittsburgh’s 30-13 loss to the Colts on Saturday also featured two backup quarterbacks that put together strong stat lines with Nick mullins of the Vikings throwing for 303 yards and two touchdowns to two interceptions while completing nearly 79% of his passes. Bengals QB Jake Browning completed 69% of his pass attempts for 324 yards and two touchdowns to one interception, having thrown for 275+ passing yards in all three contests since facing the Steelers nearly a month ago.
Obviously, plenty of these performances are just weekly occurrences and stats aren’t everything comparing to securing the win, but it says a lot that multiple backups across the league are out producing the Steelers’ starting quarterbacks on a regular basis. Pickett threw for a career-high 327 yards in his first start of his NFL career against the Buffalo Bills last season, but failed to get into the end zone. The same can be said for his 278-yard performance this year against the Bengals, failing to throw for a touchdown as that area of the field has largely evaded Pickett for most of his first two NFL seasons.
The Pittsburgh Steelers need to be able to move the ball effectively through the air and put more points on the board. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure that out. However, they haven’t been getting the production they need out of the most important position in the sport as their passing game has vastly underwhelmed the last two season in comparison to their run game. Whether if it’s getting an innovative offensive coordinator to spice up the offense, acquiring a quarterback via the draft or free agency that has more upside as a passer, or both, the Steelers need to desperately improve the production that they are getting from quarterback as many of the backups across the league are outperforming what they currently got in their room.
