It's been over a month since the Pittsburgh Steelers benched quarterback, Mitch Trubisky, in favor of rookie, Kenny Pickett. Since then, Trubisky has mostly been a mentor from the sidelines. He did come in against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, leading the offense to victory after Pickett suffered a concussion.
Credit: Jordan Schofield/SteelerNation (JSKO_PHOTO Twitter)
Since he was relegated to the backup position though, Trubisky hasn't been afraid to share his feelings when speaking to the media. He made it obvious that he was frustrated and confused by the benching, which most of us would be in that situation. It was inevitable all along though, as the team wasn't just going to sit their first-round rookie quarterback on the bench all season. Via 93.7 The Fan's Jeff Hathhorn, Trubisky was quite critical in his assessment of the current state of the Steelers offense:
"You are seeing the same thing when I was in there. We got to get back to the fundamentals, [including] eliminating penalties. Every being on the same page, 11 guys playing as one. [We need to] find ways to score and get some points," Trubisky said via Hathhorn. "Some of them are just one-offs, freak accidents. Some other times, they are repeat offenders. That's got to come from the top down. The coaches got to hold these guys more accountable when it comes to penalties."
Now, to be clear, Hathhorn included several other quotes from Trubisky. The veteran quarterback was critical of all sides, acknowledging the players have to be accountable and hold themselves to a higher standard. His comments reflected a lot of what the rookie quarterback, Pickett, said after the game on Sunday. That is, he was critical of the team's excessive amount of penalties.
Credit: Jordan Schofield/SteelerNation (JSKO_PHOTO Twitter)
Additionally, Pickett and Trubisky have now both stated that everything begins with their practice habits. They need to practice better, as well as study film harder. That's not something that you want to hear as a fan, but at least the two quarterbacks are honest. They've also been transparent in their opinions on the coaching, as Trubisky believes there needs to be more discipline from the "top down."
Whether this is directed at head coach Mike Tomlin, offensive coordinator Matt Canada, or someone else, who knows. The team's 2-6 record is seemingly ruffling everyone's feathers at this point though. There seems to be a whole lot of finger pointing with all sides involved. Early in the week, Canada said the players simply need to play better and execute more.
On the player side of things, Pickett, Trubisky, Diontae Johnson, and others haven't been afraid to speak their minds. Things are not going well in Pittsburgh.
What are your thoughts on these comments from Trubisky? Is he out of line or do you think he's in the right for speaking his truthful thoughts? Share your thoughts on this topic in the comment section below!
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