The general tone in the Pittsburgh Steelers’ locker room yesterday seemed to be one of shame. Everybody seemed to think that they let themselves down by playing far below the level at which they should be playing. Accordingly, they lost as game they had no business losing.
But lose it they did, and if you have to pinpoint one singular moment at which point the game got out of hand, it would have to be C Mason Cole’s botched snap to QB Mitch Trubisky that resulted in the Arizona Cardinals recovering the loose ball. Despite the bad snap, however, it was the quarterback who absorbed responsibility.
“I gotta get on top of that”, Trubisky told reporters yesterday after the game, via the team’s website. “It was a low snap, but unfortunately there was a screen called so we were trying to get the linemen out, so the guy was able to hit me before I was able to pick it up. Just an unfortunate situation. I’ve got to find a way to get on the ball so it’s not a negative play in the game”.
Cole’s snap actually took an unusual trajectory. Off the hand, it looked as though it would stay up and hit Trubisky’s hands. Instead, it proved to be a sinker, landing between his feet as he tried to basket catch it only to watch it spill between his legs.
To make matters worse, as Trubisky stepped back to locate the ball, it decided to spin in the opposite direction, traveling under him and preventing him from finding it. By the time he got hands on it, the defense got hands on him, and then on the ball.
It was 2nd and 9 at the time from the Steelers’ own 30, trailing 10-3 after giving up a 99-yard touchdown drive following a goal-line stop that prevented them from going up instead. By that point, the game was still very much in reach.
The Cardinals then put it out of reach by scoring another touchdown, the Steelers responding by missing a field goal after getting back into scoring range yet again. Up to that point, they had been driving the ball reasonably well when managing to stay out of possession downs but going down two scores seemed to put the game out of reach.
Sure, you could put blame on Trubisky if you want. The quarterback’s number one job when the ball is snapped is to secure possession by any means necessary. He failed to do that. But the center’s job is to put the ball where it’s supposed to be, and Cole very clearly failed to do that. He did put the blame on himself, saying there were “no issues but me”.
Nobody comes out of this looking good. But for Cole, this has been an ongoing problem. He had a few other poor snaps during the same game, one of which got away from QB Kenny Pickett, and which resulted in him taking a sack. How does this get fixed? Don’t ask me.
