The Pittsburgh Steelers have failed to do almost everything right during their three-game losing streak, and the team has to find ways to fix it all if they want a chance to make the playoffs. The fans have been pointing the fingers at Mike Tomlin for the constant issues with the team. Tomlin himself has started taking more accountability after their loss to the Indianapolis Colts. He announced a change to the roster, but swapping backup quarterbacks won't be enough to fix the whole team. Tomlin addressed one of those specific issues during his weekly press conference.
Jordan Schofield / SteelerNation (Twitter: @JSKO_PHOTO)
With an injury to Steelers quarterback Kenny Pickett, veteran backup Mitch Trubisky has been asked to step up in a big way.
Tomlin brought up one particular play and focused on it. With less than a minute to go before halftime, Mitch Trubisky missed a pass over the middle to tight end, Pat Freiermuth. As opposed to the Steelers keeping the ball and potentially getting into field goal range, they punted it back to the Colts. In :22 seconds, Indianapolis went down the field for 74 yards and the go-ahead touchdown. From there, the Steelers seemingly gave up and the Colts walked all over the Steelers in all phases of the game.
Tomlin was asked about what went wrong on that play and whose fault it was. Tomlin wouldn't put the blame on one player, but said it was a collective failure.
"I'm not going to assign blame. It was a miscommunication. We're all responsible for making sure we throw and catch that ball versus zone coverage in a makeable down and distance. It was a significant play to be quite honest, not only in terms of our ability to maintain possession of the ball and move forward, but to maybe put some points on the board before the half, but also, as I mentioned, they were subsequently able to drive the field and bookend the half themselves."
The Steelers' issues against zone defense have been documented already, and clearly, the change at offensive coordinator has not helped with the quarterbacks deciphering those kinds of schemes. On the other end, Gardner Minshew had no problem with picking apart Pittsburgh's prevent/soft zone defense to take the lead right before halftime.
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Steelers' Pat Freiermuth has already become one of the best tight ends in the NFL.
Steelers' Constant Miscommunications Explained
Teams across many levels of football run a bunch of "option routes," where the receiver and quarterback both have to read the defense and figure out if they are playing either man coverage or zone coverage. The receiver chooses what route he runs based on the coverage, and the quarterback puts the ball wherever the receiver goes. When both the quarterback and receiver decipher the coverage and are on the same page, it's nearly unstoppable. For the Steelers, they have issues on all parts of the option routes, causing these failures.
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Steelers quarterbacks coach and play-caller Mike Sullivan gives instruction to quarterback Mitch Trubisky.
No matter who plays quarterback for the rest of the season, this is a concept that the Steelers have to be proficient in. They can't rely solely on back-shoulder fades and checkdowns to move the ball through the air. Same goes for the receivers; no matter who is playing for the team now or later, they have to learn these things, as opposed to just having a very limited route tree. Hopefully, a new offensive coordinator in 2024 can help patch these issues up.
What do you think about Mike Tomlin's comments on the specific incompletion between Mitch Trubisky and Pat Freiermuth before halftime? Let us know in the comments.
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