The Pittsburgh Steelers began their third week of training camp as it is officially a game week in Pittsburgh. The team will take on the Seattle Seahawks on Saturday at Acrisure Stadium in the first preseason game of the year for both. Preparation for the Steelers continued on Monday at Latrobe Memorial Stadium. One of the most consistent pieces of practice has been the "7 shots" drill when the offense has seven chances to score against the defense from the seven-yard line. While Mitch Trubisky has struggled most of camp finding receivers in the end zone, Monday was a bit different as he had a better showing.
Pittsburgh Steelers quarterbacks, Kenny Pickett (#8), Mitch Trubisky (#10), and Mason Rudolph (#2) participate in 2022 training camp at the team's South Side facility. | Jordan Schofield / SteelerNation (Twitter: @JSKO_PHOTO)
The first play saw the offense set up in an empty formation and Trubisky found Anthony McFarland in the flat and it led to a touchdown. The very next play, Diontae Johnson was open near the front pylon and Trubisky found him which also resulted in a touchdown thanks to Johnson's toe-tapping catch. While the drill started off well for Trubisky and the offense going up, 2-0, the rest of the way was pretty rough.
Trubisky wanted to go right back to Johnson on the third play on a quick slant route, but the two seemed to have a miscommunication and the pass was incomplete. The #1 signal caller on the most recently released depth chart looked for Connor Heyward during his last attempt, but the rookie bobbled the pass and failed to get both feet in bounds. He wasn't successful and Trubisky finished 2/4 with two touchdowns.
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As has been standard in training camp, Mason Rudolph came in for the next two plays and was far from efficient, but it wasn't necessarily his fault. The first play was a designed play-action and the Steelers quarterback had Gunner Olszewski, but the pass was dropped by the wide receiver and the defense took a 3-2 lead. The next play saw another open receiver with tight end, Kevin Rader being open, but not being able to hang onto the pass as he fell to the ground.
Kenny Pickett, who has impressed during the drill recently, came in for his sole opportunity and Olszewski was open on a play-action pass, but he dropped it again leading to another defensive win, 5-2. This time, however, the Steelers defense wasn't overly impressive. The skill players on offense were the biggest hinderance to a successful 7 shots outing for Matt Canada's group.
Jordan Schofield / SteelerNation (Twitter: @JSKO_PHOTO)
Steelers fans should be concerned at the performance the offense has displayed since training camp began with the 7 shots exercise. Field goals are not going to lead to winning consistently and while the offense is failing to perform against a star-studded defense, it is rather unsettling that they continue to perform at a poor level when trying to score six against the unit.
What concerns do you have with the Steelers offense, specifically in the red zone after the last few weeks of 7 shots have not gone well? Let us know in the comments below!
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