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

When he got onto the field for the concussed Kenny Pickett late in the first quarter, he wanted to be aggressive. Well, check that: He wanted to be “overly aggressive,” or the opposite of everything the Steelers have preached to Pickett over his past two months of growth as a starting quarterback.

Advertisement

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

“You just can’t turn the ball over, particularly like this matchup,” Mike Tomlin said. “Usually, the team that turns the ball over in the red area is the team that loses. They’ve turned it over some in the red area in recent matchups, and we’ve won those games. We turned it over in the red area in this one, so we lost this one.”

It might ultimately cost him a chance of starting next week against the Panthers if Pickett isn’t cleared in time from the concussion protocol. Considering that is now two concussions Pickett has suffered within two months, the Steelers might play it a little more cautiously than before.

Mitch Trubisky on being aggressive

— Mark Kaboly (@MarkKaboly) December 11, 2022

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

I don’t blame Trubisky one bit for taking the aggressive approach to the game, and if I were him, I’d do it again.

Trubisky was already sold a bill of goods when he got here. He was entrenched as the starter all offseason, then was yanked 14 quarters into his career and cast as a backup. If Diontae Johnson gets his foot down late in the first half against the Jets, maybe we are still waiting on Pickett’s debut. Maybe if Johnson didn’t get into fisticuffs with Trubisky at halftime of that game, things would be different.

Trubisky owes the Steelers nothing except going out there and doing what he does best. Not what’s best for what the coaches want the offense to look like.

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

INTERCEPTION @Patrickqueen_!!! BEST LINEBACKERS IN THE GAME!!#PROBOWLVOTE | 📺: CBS

— Baltimore Ravens (@Ravens) December 11, 2022

“When you give up the football three times to a good team and a good defense, they’re known for taking the ball away, and I’ve just got to be smarter with my decisions and not forcing it down there,” Trubisky said. “Credit to them, and I just try to come in, do my job. At times, I was overly aggressive. I wanted to score in the red zone. I wanted to be aggressive.

Advertisement

“I think looking back at the film, once we look at it, I think I can be a lot better with my eyes and then be smart and know when to check them down. A learning experience for sure.”

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

GO DEEPER

Kaboly: Steelers QB controversy? Uninhibited Mitch Trubisky might be best option right now

Trubisky knows he isn’t going to get many more chances. Who knows if he will ever take another snap here with the Steelers, even though his contract runs through next year. When you get 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’ve made a difference, and he needed to realize that after maybe the first rocket ball he threw to the other team. But you can’t blame Trubisky for taking risks that Pickett was not comfortable taking.

We will tend to focus on the negative. But Trubisky did bring a splash to this offense that we haven’t seen in some time.

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

📺: #BALvsPIT on CBS
📱: Stream on NFL+

— NFL (@NFL) December 11, 2022

Trubisky’s third pass of the game was a 42-yarder to George Pickens. It led to the first Steelers’ touchdown of the game. He also had completions of 37 and 25 yards and five more of 10 yards and longer.

“It feels good. That’s kind of what we preach on how the offense is,” Pickens said. “You’ve just got to execute those plays. Anytime you get an opportunity, you want to seize the moment.”

Big time catch by GP 💪

📲 Stream on NFL+

— 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.

Advertisement

“There’s give and take,” Trubisky said. “There’s definitely a happy medium you need to find. When you have a great kicker like (Chris Boswell) and it’s a low-scoring game, you’ve got to be smarter with the football, and then a field goal keeps us in the game or helps us win it. You’ve just got to feel that, and obviously, I want those throws 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’ve got to take care of the football, bottom line.”

Maybe more important than the interceptions was that the Steelers couldn’t establish a run game and were playing against a defense a touch better 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 other observations from the 16-14 loss to the Ravens:

1. Even though Trubisky hooked up with Pickens three times for 78 yards, the rookie receiver was targeted only three times (plus a fourth that drew a pass interference penalty in the end zone). In what world does a talent like that get targeted so little? I don’t know, maybe I am missing something. It’s not like Pickett has targeted him a lot, either. This is where Matt Canada comes in. He needs to make it well known to whomever the quarterback is that when Pickett sees man coverage and there is one deep high safety, the ball goes down the field to Pickens. The second-round pick from Georgia has shown he doesn’t have to be open to make difference-making catches.

2. Even though I am OK with Trubisky being highly aggressive against the Ravens, I’d like to see Rudolph get an opportunity if Pickett isn’t able to play Sunday against the Panthers. Neither Trubisky nor Rudolph is in the team’s future plans. If anybody on this roster deserves a chance, it is Rudolph. He has been a professional from the start of this whole process when, in reality, he was never given a fair shot. The Steelers’ season is all but over. Give him one opportunity. What’s it going to hurt?

3. The Steelers switched up their defensive scheme a lot against the Ravens, even though it did have quite a familiar feel. They went a lot with a heavy front with three inside linebackers (five LBs total) as well as the three down linemen. We have seen that before when they have played Baltimore, but that was to account for Lamar Jackson and his ability to run the football. What was shocking is that the front was getting pushed off the ball for the majority of the game. It allowed J.K. Dobbins and Gus Edwards to slide through big holes that were opened up even larger by 310-pound fullback Patrick Ricard. If you can get that much push from an offensive line, the defensive front has no shot and that’s what we saw Sunday. And that was maybe more concerning than Trubisky trying to jam the ball in between three defenders all game.

Advertisement

4. Tomlin said that the defense “wore down” at the end of the game. That may be an indictment on the players, but to me it’s just as much an issue with the coaching staff. You can’t be worn down in an NFL game. It can’t happen and a coach can’t let that happen. It’s not like the plays or time of possession were skewed heavily toward the Ravens. It means they got punched in the mouth, and that’s concerning. “If the coach says it …” Cameron Heyward said.

WELCOME BACK @Jkdobbins22!!

TUNE IN ON CBS!

— Baltimore Ravens (@Ravens) December 11, 2022

5. The biggest sequence of the game came within the final two minutes when the Steelers needed a stop but couldn’t get one. Mind you, with some practice-squad quarterback who you know was going to hand it off. It wasn’t that they were fooled. Myles Jack said afterward that they knew what was coming but couldn’t do anything about it. “The game was within reach, they got the first when they needed it. We didn’t. It sucks,” Jack said. Heyward was mad as well. “We didn’t have enough wherewithal to know that was coming. We had opportunities to get off the field, and we didn’t,” he said.

6. Najee Harris had four solid games in a row. For some reason (likely opponent), a fifth wasn’t in order. He didn’t appear to be hitting holes with the tenacity that he did during the past month. There were some holes, too. Mason Cole and James Daniels were getting it done early in the game, but not being able to get into a rhythm hurt Harris and the running game more than anything else. They gave him a lot of blows during the game, 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 strange. A couple of times, he mentioned the red zone turnovers and how three points would have made a difference. I don’t know, but I’d probably word it differently for an offense that is near the bottom in many categories, including rushing. The unit managed only 65 rushing yards against the Ravens.

8. Pressley Harvin’s 27.3 net yards per punt just isn’t going to do it. The frustrating part with him is that he has 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-protect pass plays out of Canada. When you put only two men in the route with a potential outlet to a running back, it’s not going to work. What good is protection if there is nobody open to throw it to?

10. Sure, the Steelers are still mathematically in the playoff race, but who are we kidding? The final four games will decide whether it is a decent season or a terrible season. It is going to be interesting to see how veterans like Heyward and company react over the final month. They aren’t going to throw in the towel until there is no hope left, but the message right now should be that players on both sides of the ball are playing for their jobs. That needs to be known by everybody on the roster.

(Photo: Philip G. Pavely / USA Today)