Flavell's Five Thoughts: Steelers QB Situation Gets Worse
A word that has been thrown around a lot since the Pittsburgh Steelers lost handily to the Arizona Cardinals is "bleak." That seems to surmise the feeling pretty well, as a once-easy schedule has proven to be a problem for the Steelers.
Making matters worse, they have to turn around on short notice and take on another bad team in the New England Patriots on Thursday night at Acrisure Stadium. They will be doing so without a few key players.
Kenny Pickett is undergoing surgery to repair his injured ankle and will miss 2-4 weeks. Elandon Roberts' exact injury is yet to be known, but it seems foolish to expect him to suit up on a short week even with the Steelers now down their three starting inside linebackers. Minkah Fitzpatrick's hand is broken, and while he's going to play, it is reasonable to expect a small dip in production. Even T.J. Watt left for a few snaps after tweaking his ankle.
Add all of that up, and you get a potential recipe for disaster for a team that needs just about any good news going into their Week 13 matchup against the Patriots.
Quarterback Situation
Pickett has spent a lot of time this season on and on and off the injury report. He's gutted through most injuries, but upon leaving the game and being seen on the sidelines wearing a walking boot, things weren't thought to be good. They aren't great; however, he was not lost for the year. That is big news.
Maybe you feel confident in Pickett. Maybe you don't. But it has become apparent that Mitchell Trubisky is not the best option for a team that may have to lean on a backup quarterback more often than not.
The former second-overall pick has been a near disaster in Pittsburgh. Trubisky takes more risk than Pickett, but most of those risks end up in turnovers. As a backup quarterback, you just can't do that. Ball security and game management have to be the priorities, and Turbisky has proven to be inept at doing that.
While many are clamoring for Mason Rudolph, is that really a much more viable option? The last time we saw him on a field, he tied a winless Detroit Lions team in 2021. He missed Ray-Ray McLoud on a very short touchdown pass, under-throwing him by two yards.
Pickett might not be a franchise-altering quarterback, but he is at least better than the Steelers' alternative options. Having your starting quarterback hurt before a short week is not ideal. Trubisky doesn't get many snaps with the starting offense in practice and will have limited opportunity for that this week. Thursday has the potential for another ugly game.
Squandered Opportunities
Now at 7-5, the Steelers have missed a few chances to be as high as the one-seed at this very moment over the past few weeks. The loss in Cleveland hurt pretty bad. Losing at home to a two-win football team is much worse. If the Steelers take care of business, they would be 9-3 right now alongside the Miami Dolphins and Baltimore Ravens.
Instead, they sit 7-5 alongside a bunch of other mediocre teams in the AFC Wild Card race. As things stand, they are the fifth seed in the AFC. If they suffer a disastrous loss to the Patriots, they very well could be on the outside looking in come Week 15. That's how small a margin for error-middling AFC teams have at the moment.
Entering the week, the Steelers had the second-easiest remaining schedule in the AFC. Talk about a great opportunity to make headway. Instead, they squandered an opportunity to enhance their playoff chances.
The remaining quarterbacks they'll face are Bailey Zappe/Mac Jones, Jake Browning, Gardner Minshew, Geno Smith, and Lamar Jackson. They face some quarterbacks that are beatable, without a doubt. It's whether or not they can take advantage of the chances at hand. They, too, will be employing a backup quarterback for a few games going forward.
Thinning Middle Linebacker Depth
Cole Holcomb spent the early part of the season coming into his own as the team's alpha middle linebacker. He went down with a knee injury that ended his season. Luxuriously, the Steelers still had Kwon Alexander and Elandon Roberts to fill the void or the "division of labor," as their head coach likes to say.
Fast forward to Week 12, and none of them are currently available to the Steelers. This is a less-than-ideal time for a less-than-ideal injury situation. Alas, it is one the Steelers will face.
Mykal Walker is the starting inside linebacker opposite of Roberts and played a not-so-strong game in the Steelers' loss. Mark Robinson will likely start with Blake Martinez and recently un-retired Myles Jack, potentially seeing some playing time in spots.
None of this is inspiring for the Steelers. They've got some depth issues to work through and have to hope whatever options are available to them on the short week get them through to their mini-bye with the chance to get Roberts back that week.
Most Torturous Game in Recent Memory?
Regardless of whether it was the worst loss in Mike Tomlin's tenure, Has there been a game that has been more painful to watch?
The tide began to turn when Pickett got hurt, and the Steelers' next play was a 4th-and-goal with their backup quarterback coming on to try and punch the ball in for six. They got stuffed at the one and then promptly allowed the two-win Cardinals to drive 99 yards for a touchdown of their own right before the half. All of this happened with a storm blowing over Acrisure Stadium that delayed the start of the second half.
Upon coming back out, the game was delayed again after former Pitt Panther and Pittsburgh Steeler James Conner scored to make it 17-3. The Steelers missed a field goal on their first drive after the second delay before conceding another touchdown and looking like a Matt Canada-led offense with Trubisky at the helm.
If that nightmare played in your head while you were asleep, you'd probably wake up thinking that the Steelers were the two-win team in this game if you hadn't known any better.
Thursday's Game May Be Biggest of Season
Thursday night games are already a burden for many NFL teams. The damage you take on Sunday and having to turn around four days later to play again is not a fun thing, and players have made that clear over the years. Add in that the Steelers will be reeling from a horrible loss to the Cardinals and now have to face another two-win football team, and this might qualify as the biggest game of the season for the Steelers.
The Steelers have taken teams lightly over the years, but, in all honesty, it happens to every team at least once a year. Tomlin in primetime has been very good; that is the spot the Steelers will be in on Thursday. He'll be facing the other longest-tenured coach in football, Bill Belichick will be on the other sideline. Three years ago, this might've been the biggest Thursday Night Football game of the season. This year, it is just another test for Al Michaels to stay awake for.
If the Steelers fall to 7-6 following this game, their season will be teetering on the brink and Pickett's return will mean nothing more than a small handful of games to evaluate him on before having to make a decision at that position this off-season. At 8-5, the Steelers can ensure that they'll hold on to a playoff spot for at least another week as they head into a game against the red-hot Indianapolis Colts, a team with a similar 7-5 record.
Games that shouldn't have meant this much now hold even more weight as the Steelers try to navigate their way into the playoffs on the shoulders of Mitchell Trubisky. Not many scarier sentences have been uttered in recent Steelers history.
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