KENNY PICKETT CELEBRATES AFTER A RUSHING TOUCHDOWN, OCT. 2. (PHOTO COURTESY PITTSBURGH STEELERS)
by Aubrey Bruce, For New Pittsburgh Courier
On Sunday, Oct. 2, the Pittsburgh Steelers were in the midst of a ho-hum game against the New York Jets. It was the beginning of the third quarter. During the first half, the performance of the Steelers’ offense was quite simply, offensive.
They performed as if they had been stripped of any positive energy and as if they were drowning without a life jacket or lifeboat in sight. During the previous games, it didn’t seem to matter whether the Steeler defense provided a turnover, a spark, a twist, or a turn. The fortune of the team seemed to be mired in the “quicksand of mediocrity.” It took the insertion of first-round draft pick Kenny Pickett to silence the bells of defeat to create opportunity. Pickett, in for quarterback Mitch Trubisky, strode onto the field with the swagger and confidence of a man as if he was a gambler in Las Vegas, at the craps table playing with money to burn, not afraid to lose, but with the guts of someone striving to win.
Pickett ran into the ER and removed the ventilator from a team that was experiencing a season that was just one small step from the bone orchard: he shocked them back to life with a competitive defibrillator. He snatched the team out of the hospital bed just before they were counted out and pronounced finished for the season and got to cracking.
During the beginning of the season, when the defense, the offense and special teams were evaluated, the offense appeared to be on life support and operating as if they were curled up in a fetal position, leaving the remainder of the team in a fatal position.
At the moment it happened, I was sitting in the press box. The stomping and cheering became louder and louder. It was so voluminous and powerful. I thought at any moment the walls were going to come tumbling down.
Steelers coach Mike Tomlin, always a master of the understatement, had this to say about inserting Kenny Pickett into the game. “We just thought we needed a spark,” he said. “We didn’t do much in the first half, not enough offensively. And thought he could provide a spark for us.”
I hope that I am wrong, but maybe the choice of inserting Kenny Pickett will remove some of the pressure from the shoulders of Mitch Trubisky. Rookie wideout George Pickens confirmed what his head coach said about Kenny Pickett providing a needed spark for a floundering team that seemed to have an identity crisis or a lack of an identity crisis.
I watched Trubisky patrol the sidelines from the bench to points unknown and back to the bench. His response after the game did not appear to be very “go get-um Pickett-like.” When Trubisky was asked, “Do you think the switch was deserved?” His very un-teammate-like response was, “It doesn’t matter what I think. (Coach Tomlin) did what he thought was best for the team.”
Trubisky was so nonchalant about the Steelers’ season resting in his hands and continued saying, “I took some shots. They didn’t connect. We didn’t score enough points. I got pulled at halftime. That’s just how it goes sometimes. It’s just business as usual. We’ve got to find a way to pull together and get better from here. I’m disappointed, obviously, but that’s part of it.
Sounds like a very imperfect cheerleader: yay, go team.
That’s right Mitch, you didn’t connect all season. Well, except for a few circus-like catches made by your wide receivers. You didn’t score enough points? Right again. You got pulled at halftime for a shabby performance…that is not how it’s supposed to go. “We’ve got to find a way to pull together and get better from here.” Is it they must get better? Or do you have to get better? You’re disappointed? What about a team, a city, and an entire region being disappointed?
The Steelers’ ship has sailed: Mitch Trubisky gave up a seat on the bridge for a regular cabin.
The jury is still out on Mitch Trubisky morphing from a starter to a supporter of his team. However, the jury is back on convicting him of ineffectiveness as the Steelers’ starting quarterback. Guilty as charged
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