Kaboly: Don’t blame Mitch Trubisky for his aggressive approach, despite INTs

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PITTSBURGH If Mitch Trubisky said it once during his six-minute session with the media after the Steelers’ 16-14 loss to the Ravens on Sunday, he’s said it half a dozen times.

When he came on the field for concussion victim Kenny Pickett late in the first quarter, he wanted to be aggressive. Well, check that out: He wanted to be overly aggressive, or the opposite of everything the Steelers preached to Pickett in his last two months of growth as a starting quarterback.

Run the ball, make a play or two, protect the defense and don’t turn the ball over. Picketts’ streak of not throwing an interception is now at 129 attempts. Trubisky threw a pick on his fifth attempt and 11th attempt inside the red zone. He threw his third and final interception just nine passes after that.

You just can’t return the ball, especially like this game, Mike Tomlin said. Usually the team that returns the ball to the red zone is the losing team. They’ve turned a few of them into the red zone in recent games, and we’ve won those games. We flipped it in the red zone of this one, so we lost this one.

It could ultimately cost him a chance to start next week against the Panthers if Pickett isn’t cleared from concussion protocol in time. Considering Pickett suffered two concussions in two months, the Steelers could be playing a little safer than before.

Mitch Trubisky on his aggression pic.twitter.com/5gPUujSMkb

Mark Kaboly (@MarkKaboly) December 11, 2022

Maybe Mike Tomlin will throw Mason Rudolph a bone against the Panthers. I didn’t anticipate this, but Trubisky gave him the ammunition to make such a move.

I don’t blame Trubisky at all for taking an aggressive approach to the game, and if I was him, I’d do it again.

Trubisky had already sold a bill of goods when he arrived here. He was cut as a starter the entire offseason, then was retired 14 quarters into his career and picked as a replacement. If Diontae Johnson puts his foot down late in the first half against the Jets, we may still be waiting for Picketts’ debut. Maybe if Johnson hadn’t had punches with Trubisky at halftime in that game, things would be different.

Trubisky owes nothing to the Steelers except to go out there and do what he does best. Not what best suits what the coaches want the offense to look like.

I know it’s a straw man argument because of the outcome and why they lost, but Trubisky did what he did, he let it all hang out.

INTERCEPTION @Patrickqueen_ !!! BEST LINEBACKERS IN THE GAME!!#PROBOWLVOTE | : CBS pic.twitter.com/iDD4CJBgQt

Baltimore Ravens (@Ravens) December 11, 2022

When you give up football three times to a good team and good defense, they’ve been known to take the ball, and I just have to be smarter with my decisions and not force it there, Trubisky said. Kudos to them, and I’m just trying to get in, do my job. Sometimes I was too aggressive. I wanted to score in the red zone. I wanted to be aggressive.

I think watching the movie, once we watch it, I think I can be a lot better with my eyes and then be smart and know when to check them. A learning experience for sure.

Trubisky had success in the second half of the Tampa Bay game earlier in the year when he replaced Pickett and went for the grip-it-and-rip-it approach. It worked so why not now?

GO FURTHER

Kaboly: Controversy over the Steelers QB? Uninhibited Mitch Trubisky might be the best option right now

Trubisky knows he won’t get many more chances. Who knows if he’ll ever take another shot here with the Steelers, even if his contract runs until next year. When you have your chance as a professional athlete, you take it.

Trubisky took it and failed, for the most part.

The two interceptions inside the red zone were crippling. In a game like this, three points can and would have made a difference, and he needed to realize that after maybe the first rocket he threw at the other team. But you can’t blame Trubisky for taking risks that Pickett wasn’t comfortable taking.

We tend to focus on the negative. But Trubisky brought a shine to this offense that we haven’t seen in a while.

Trubisky at QB and he finds George Pickens for 42 yards!

: #BALvsPIT on CBS: Stream on NFL+ https://t.co/R8oapqsCVs pic.twitter.com/cSAqsEjb5A

NFL (@NFL) December 11, 2022

Trubisky’s third pass of the game was 42 yards to George Pickens. This led to the Steelers’ first touchdown of the game. He also completed passes for 37 and 25 yards and five others of 10 yards and more.

It feels good. That’s kind of what we preach about the nature of the offense, Pickens said. You just need to run these games. Whenever you have an opportunity, you want to seize the moment.

Big time caught up by GP

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Pittsburgh Steelers (@steelers) December 11, 2022

So it wasn’t all bad. It ended up being bad with the timing of the interceptions and where they came from.

There are give-and-takes, Trubisky said. There is definitely a middle ground you need to find. When you have a good kicker like (Chris Boswell) and it’s a low scoring game, you have to be smarter with the football and then a basket keeps us in the game or helps us win it. You just have to feel that, and obviously I want those throws to come back, but you want to stay aggressive at the same time. We were moving the ball. Part of that was helping with that aggressive mindset.

But I have to take care of football, in the end.

Perhaps more important than the interceptions was that the Steelers couldn’t establish a running game and were playing against a slightly better defense than the Falcons, Saints and Colts. They also allowed 5.1 yards per carry against an offense led by a third-string quarterback for most of the game.

Here are 10 more observations from the 16-14 loss to the Ravens:

1. Even though Trubisky joined Pickens three times for 78 yards, the rookie receiver was only targeted three times (plus a fourth that drew a pass interference penalty in the end zone). In what world is such a talent so little targeted? I don’t know, maybe I’m missing something. It’s not like Pickett targeted him much, either. This is where Matt Canada comes in. He needs to let whoever the quarterback is know that when Pickett sees a covered man and there’s high security, the ball goes downfield to Pickens. Georgia’s second-round pick has shown he doesn’t need to be open to make the difference.

2. While I agree that Trubisky is very aggressive against the Ravens, I would like to see Rudolph have an opportunity if Pickett is unable to play Sunday against the Panthers. Neither Trubisky nor Rudolph are part of the team’s future plans. If anyone on this list deserves a chance, it’s Rudolph. He has been a professional since the beginning of this whole process when in reality he has never had a chance. The Steelers season is almost over. Give it a chance. What’s it gonna hurt?

3. The Steelers changed their defensive scheme a lot against the Ravens, even though it had a pretty familiar feel. They went great with a heavy front with three inside linebackers (five pounds total) as well as the three down linemen. We’ve seen that before when they played in Baltimore, but that was to account for Lamar Jackson and his ability to lead the game. What was shocking was that the forward was pushed off the ball for most of the game. This allowed JK Dobbins and Gus Edwards to slide through big holes that were opened up even bigger by 310-pound fullback Patrick Ricard. If you can get that much push from an offensive line, the defensive front has zero shots and that’s what we saw on Sunday. And that was perhaps more worrisome than Trubisky trying to block the ball between three defenders the whole game.

4. Tomlin said the defense wore out late in the game. It may be an indictment against the players, but for me it’s just as much an issue with the coaching staff. You can’t be exhausted in an NFL game. It can’t happen and a coach can’t let it happen. It’s not like the plays or time of possession are heavily skewed in favor of the Ravens. That means they’ve been punched in the mouth, and that’s worrying. If the coach says it, Cameron Heyward said it.

WELCOME @Jkdobbins22!!

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Baltimore Ravens (@Ravens) December 11, 2022

5. The biggest streak of the game came in the final two minutes when the Steelers needed a stoppage but couldn’t get one. Mind you, with a practice squad quarterback who you know was going to pass it on. It wasn’t that they were fools. Myles Jack said afterwards that they knew what was coming but there was nothing they could do about it. The game was at their fingertips, they had the first one when they needed it. We did not do it. That sucks, Jack said. Heyward was mad too. We didn’t have enough resources to know that was going to happen. We had chances to get off the pitch, and we didn’t, he said.

6. Najee Harris has had four solid straight games. For some reason (probable opponent), a fifth was not in order. He didn’t seem to be hitting holes with the tenacity he has been doing for the past month. There were also holes. Mason Cole and James Daniels did it early in the game, but not being able to get into a rhythm hurt Harris and the running game more than anything. They kicked him a lot during the match, and it doesn’t seem to be good for him. We lost by not capitalizing on red-zone points, Harris said.

7. Harris spending part of his postgame interview indirectly blaming Trubisky for the loss was odd. A few times he mentioned turnovers from the red zone and how three points would have made the difference. I don’t know, but I’d probably phrase it differently for an offense that’s near the bottom in many categories, including rushing. The unit only managed 65 rushing yards against the Ravens.

8. Pressley Harvins 27.3 net yards per punt just isn’t going to do it. The frustrating part with him is that he’s shown flashes of being good, but his inconsistency is killing the Steelers.

9. I don’t know about you, but I thought there were once again way too many max-protected passing plays outside of Canada. When you only put two men on the road with a potential outlet for a running back, it won’t work. What good is protection if there is no one to throw it to?

10. Sure, the Steelers are still mathematically in the playoff hunt, but who the hell are we kidding? The last four games will decide if it’s a decent season or a terrible season. It will be interesting to see how veterans like Heyward and company react over the past month. They’re not going to throw in the towel until there’s hope, but the message right now should be that players on both sides of the ball are playing for their jobs. This should be known to everyone on the list.

(Photo: Philip G. Pavely/USA Today)

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