Steelers Legend Ben Roethlisberger Extremely Critical Of Mike Tomlin's Preseason Approach

The Pittsburgh Steelers and Head Coach Mike Tomlin made a massive mistake promoting Matt Canada to be the offensive coordinator in 2021. As if that wasn't bad enough, he was retained entering the 2023 season and eventually fired after his unit simply couldn't put points on the board. The hopes were extremely high after second-year quarterback (at the time) Kenny Pickett put on an absolute clinic in the preseason. Unfortunately, that didn't even come close to translating when the games mattered, leading to a complete overhaul of the quarterback unit in 2024.

Russell Wilson will be the team's starter once the regular season kicks off against the Atlanta Falcons. The veteran dealt with a calf issue for the majority of training camp, which led to him missing the first preseason game of the year. He performed relatively poorly in the second game, while finally showing out (albeit, on only on drive) in the third matchup. It's safe to say that no one is really sure what the group is going to be able to do in 2024.

Legendary quarterback Ben Roethlisberger has been out of the league for nearly three seasons now, but still talks all things Steelers on his podcast, Footbahlin with Ben Roethlisberger. He noted in the most recent episode that he wasn't too keen on Pickett not playing enough in the 2023 preseason, and echoed that sentiment when discussing 2024.

"If I'm going to critique the preseason, this last game [against the Detroit Lions], Russ only played one series and [the offense] went and scored in four or five plays, and that's awesome. But, to me, that's such a small sample size, and one of them was like a 30-yard pass and a, I think, a 30-yard run, so two of those plays were huge."

The legend is spot on with his analysis regarding the sample size. Tomlin clearly wanted to get Wilson in and out of there, but with offensive line issues and uncertainty regarding the wide receiver position, it might have been better to let Wilson get a few more possessions against the Detroit Lions. There's a strong chance that the unit as a whole comes out rusty versus the Falcons.

Tomlin may have done his team a disservice by not allowing Wilson to get more live reps in with the first-team offense. Wilson is a veteran and doesn't need too many snaps to get into a rhythm, but he is on a new team, and running a brand new offense that he hasn't played in since being drafted back in 2012. It would have been wise to allow him to have several successful drives with his guys, rather than just one.

It's fair to worry about a potential injury to your starter, but Tomlin has been quoted saying that both Wilson and Justin Fields were competing for the top job. That may have been a bit of a smokescreen at the end of the day, but if the offense comes out slow to begin the 2024 campaign, Tomlin will face the critics. That could be in relation to Fields being the starter, or Wilson and the first-team not getting enough reps against different color jerseys in the preseason.

Fans in the Steel City are not very used to quarterback controversy, especially in the 21st century. Roethlisberger led the way for nearly two decades, and it has been nothing but disastrous since. One would hope that Wilson's experience will allow him to jump right in on Sunday, however, there should be some concerns about how Tomlin handled the exhibition matchups.

Steelers Must Get Off To Fast Start In 2024

Pittsburgh's schedule is brutal down the stretch, as the team will have all six AFC North matchups, along with the Philadelphia Eagles and Kansas City Chiefs in the final eight games of the season. There is no room for error early on, and a slow start could completely derail the season. The September and October months will absolutely determine if the Steelers are in playoff contention come the winter.

Do you think that Tomlin made a mistake pulling Wilson so quickly in the final preseason game? Let us know in the comments below!

#SteelerNation