Pittsburgh Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin finally pulled the plug on struggling starting quarterback Mitchell Trubisky during last week's game at home against the New York Jets, benching the veteran for 1st round draft selection Kenny Pickett.
Unfortunately for the Steelers, the move didn't exactly help them this past weekend against the high powered offense of the Buffalo Bills, who easily bested Pittsburgh by a 38-3 final score. Needless to say, former starter Ben Roethlisberger left some seriously big shoes to try and fill.
And one NFL Network reporter is blasting the Steelers for signing Trubisky as a Roethlisberger replacement in the first place. Marc Ross has named Trubisky as one of the eight worst offseason acquisitions, and it certainly makes sense considering the fact that with him under center, the Steelers had only scored four offensive touchdowns prior to Pickett's debut.
He writes:
"The Steelers have trumpeted Trubisky's leadership skills and praised him for being a great teammate, but I don't think those attributes were ever the question. He didn't perform in Chicago, and he didn't perform in Pittsburgh, which led to his benching in Week 4. With Trubisky under center, the Steelers scored just four offensive touchdowns through three and half games. He also didn't have a single performance with at least 225 pass yards or 85-plus passer rating as the starter."
"Trubisky is who we thought he was: a quarterback who makes half-field reads with poor vision and feel in the pocket, presents no threat of stretching the field but shows the occasional ability to escape pressure with his legs. Now, the entire Steelers' offense has been stagnant -- Mike Tomlin is motivated to find a solution after the Bils trounced the Steelers in Kenny Pickett's debut -- but based on what I saw early from the former No. 2 overall pick, it was time to move on, because he simply wasn't making the needed adjustments to get the offense back on track."
The Steelers are back in action at home this Sunday against Tom Brady and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
