With Kenny Pickett reportedly expected to miss the next two to four weeks after having surgery on his injured ankle, it is the Mitch Trubisky show once again in Pittsburgh. Head coach Mike Tomlin has said that the team will roll with Trubisky while Pickett is out, commending him for his experience as well as his pedigree of being a franchise quarterback in the past for the Chicago Bears.
Pro Football Focus’ Brad Spielberger jumped on The Fan Morning Show Tuesday morning and spoke about the Steelers after the disappointing loss to Arizona. He was asked if he thinks there will be a drop-off in play from Pickett to Trubisky.
“This isn’t meant to be cheeky or anything like that,” Spielberger said on The Fan Morning Show. “It’s a marginal drop-off, if any. Look, he’s got a similar physical skill set. He’s good at throwing on the move, going both to his right and his left. You’ll see similar occasional inaccuracies on those throws, but he has the physical ability to do it. You can have the threat of the designed run or him just taking off, which Mitch does.”
When you look at Trubisky and Pickett, both are similar style passers with decent size and athleticism for the position. Neither has the athleticism of a Lamar Jackson or a Jalen Hurts, but both quarterbacks are mobile enough to move in the pocket and can scramble when pressured to create outside of structure or tuck and run the ball themselves. Both quarterbacks can throw while on the move and also struggle with inaccurate passes on occasion due to ball placement or timing with the receiver on the route.
“He’s got a live arm,” Spielberger said of Trubisky. “He can throw to all levels of the field. He can do different things. Based on what we’ve seen from Kenny Pickett this year, it might actually be an upgrade.”
It’s hard to believe that Trubisky could actually be an upgrade over the quarterback who replaced him in Week Four last season against the New York Jets, but that’s the type of season that Pickett has had to this point. Sure, he’s managed to conjure up some late-game heroics and pull out big wins in the fourth quarter against the Ravens, Rams, and Titans, but he’s also fallen flat on his face at times too. Pickett completely disappeared against the Packers and Browns as he relied heavily on the defense and the running game to get the team out of the Green Bay game with a win while the offense looked as bad as it has against Cleveland in the AFC North rivals’ second matchup.
The hope was to see Pickett make that second-year jump in 2023, coming into his own as this team’s franchise quarterback. Be it injuries, the firing of OC Matt Canada at midseason, or his own uneven play, that second-year jump hasn’t happened, and Pittsburgh has more questions than answers with Pickett right now. He’s done a great job protecting the football but has also appeared to handicap this offense and its ability to move the ball and put points on the board.
Hopefully, Trubisky can provide a spark to this offense as a guy who tends to put the ball more at risk, but also generates more splash plays as a downfield passer. Given the state of Pittsburgh’s offense and specifically its passing game, some more juice and shots downfield is probably needed. Trubisky will have an opportunity to show that while also taking care of the football Thursday night against the New England Patriots.
