Chris Mueller: Kenny Pickett can learn from Mitch Trubisky's mistake-filled game against Baltimore, just not how you think
Mitch Trubisky wasn’t good on Sunday against the Baltimore Ravens. You probably don’t need me to tell you that. Three interceptions in a 16-14 game, all of them in the red zone, sums up the important part of his day.
He was the biggest reason the Steelers lost, in the process all but officially dashing their faint playoff hopes, and pushing them to the brink of Mike Tomlin’s first losing season. The only other culprit that comes close in the blame game was a sieve-like rush defense, one that got gashed for 215 yards despite the Ravens being down to third-string quarterback Anthony Brown the last 18 minutes of the game.
OK, the easy part’s out of the way. Are you sitting down? What comes next might shock and enrage you.
Trubisky’s performance in relief of Kenny Pickett, massively and obviously flawed though it was, was also closer to what high-level quarterback play in this league looks like than what Pickett was doing during the 3-1 stretch that preceded this loss.
Yeah, I know. He threw three interceptions. At least two of them were inexcusably bad. But that’s Mitch. Unless you were a doe-eyed optimist, or just living under a rock the last five seasons, you knew that this is what he is. A guy with talent who will always make the killer mistake, and never put it all together.
You know what else Trubisky did, though? He challenged Baltimore downfield, and he had some success doing it. George Pickens for 42 yards. Diontae Johnson for 37. Pickens for 25. A handful of 10-15 yard completions. The three picks snarl the stat line, and they were ― and I’m saying this for the last time, just to drive the point home ― inexcusable, but absent those three throws, Trubisky was 22-of-27 for 276 yards and a touchdown.
Yeah, yeah, I know: “Other than that, Mrs. Lincoln, how was the play?” and all that.
Seriously, though. Pickett and the Steelers would be wise to focus on the positives from Trubisky’s outing and apply them moving forward. Careful, risk-averse football might win games against bad teams, but to beat the big boys, you’ve got to take big swings. You’ve got to engineer the occasional ― or more than occasional ― quick-scoring drive.
Pickett has talked about that very subject. The longer the drive, the more things can go wrong. With this season more or less sunk, there should be less emphasis on baby-steps improvement, and more on aggressively pursuing chunk plays down the field. If you break a few eggs in the process, so what?
The Steelers beat a moribund Saints team, a rudderless Colts team, and a Falcons outfit that suffered from coaching malpractice in the first half. The Ravens, even without Lamar Jackson and Tyler Huntley, are better than that, and they proved it. Is it any coincidence that the two teams to beat Pittsburgh after the bye week are tied for first place in the AFC North? I think not. Death by a thousand cuts only works against the chumps.
Trubisky led seven drives against Baltimore. Six netted at least 40 yards of offense. Only one ended in a punt. Two yielded touchdowns, and the other four resulted in the trio of picks and a blocked field goal. Make no mistake, though. He was moving the ball. Tomlin noted as much in his Tuesday press conference. In fact, those seven drives produced 354 yards, or an average of 51 yards per drive. The Chiefs lead the NFL this season in that category, at 41 yards per drive. Trubisky was moving the ball at an elite level.
Even if you take away the final touchdown drive, where a skeptic might suggest that the Ravens were trading time for points (I wouldn’t, and if they were, they did a horrible job, because it only took 49 seconds off the clock) and Trubisky’s other six drives averaged 46.5 yards gained.
(If you’re wondering, Pickett’s 41 drives during the previous four games netted 1,432 yards, or 34.9 yards per drive, which would be top-five in the league this year. I must point out, however, that against Cincinnati, by far the best team of the four, he and the Steelers averaged just 25.9 yards per drive, which would be 31st in the NFL this season.)
Part of me understands why the Steelers are stressing a conservative approach with Pickett, but a bigger part of me would rather see him let it rip. Who cares if he throws a ton of interceptions? Better to try and fail than to get accustomed to not even making the attempt.
Plus, it’s not like the other part of that hypothetical winning equation ― a great defense ― can be counted upon to uphold its end of the bargain.
Pickett had a gunslinger mentality early this season. He threw lots of interceptions, and he and the Steelers buttoned things up after that, at times at the expense of potential big plays downfield. There’s virtually nothing to play for; a higher draft pick would actually help. If Pickett is going to have any shot of becoming an upper-echelon quarterback, the Steelers have to be willing to let him fail. This is the time for that.
Mitch Trubisky’s final stat line was ugly, but there was a valuable lesson in his performance. Time will tell if Mike Tomlin, Matt Canada and Kenny Pickett are willing to apply it.
This article originally appeared on Beaver County Times: Mueller: Lessons can be learned from Mitch Trubisky's mistake-filled game against Baltimore
