Developing route timing and chemistry is one thing but, as Mitch Trubisky notes, it's different to do it in a live-game setting.
The Steelers' quarterback talked Wednesday during an open locker room session at the UPMC Rooney Sports Complex about some of the quirks of learning alongside his pass catchers and how developing the timing of routes in practice differs in working on them throughout the game:
From today’s #Steelers locker room access, Mitchell Trubisky talked about developing timing with his wide receivers: pic.twitter.com/FBEtqwqGw9
— Corey Crisan (@cdcrisan) September 14, 2022
"I think it might be just that first-game stuff," Trubisky said. "Continue to build chemistry with the wide-outs and receivers, just get on the same page, and it's different when you're in practice, and you go into the game and everything's a little faster and you're going against a defense that's playing you a little differently or they're pressing a receiver differently. You just get those different looks, and we'll continue to get that timing down and work the timing in practice."
Trubisky completed 21 of 38 passes for 194 yards and a touchdown in the 23-20 overtime win Sunday in Cincinnati. According to NFL Next Gen Stats, he completed just 2 of 8 passes of 20 or more yards in the air, while completing 19 of 30 (63.3%) on passes of 20 or fewer yards:
NFL Next Gen Stats
Mitch Trubisky's pass chart from Week 1 in Cincinnati.
The Steelers had to check down often, and Trubisky was fairly effective in doing so, but the deep-ball accuracy left much to be desired on Sunday.
He notably missed a wide-open and streaking George Pickens in the early portion of the third quarter, a play which, if converted, would have gone for an easy 84-yard touchdown and a 24-6 Steelers lead. Instead, the Steelers punted, and the Bengals embarked on a nine-play drive which sliced the deficit to 17-14.
From 10 yards and within, Trubisky completed 17 of 27 passes, including his 1-yard TD to Najee Harris in the second quarter. That pass was completed to Harris one yard shy of the line of scrimmage.
Per Next Gen Stats, Trubisky's 78.2 rating was the 10th-worst in the league over Week 1, and his 55.3% overall completion rate ranked as fifth-worst. This coincides with his 8.1 average intended air yards (11th-most in the league) correlating with his 5.6 average completed air yards, or a difference of -2.5 yards, the 12th-worst mark in Week 1.
Much of this comes with accuracy, no doubt, but that accuracy still stems from chemistry and timing. Diontae Johnson's 12 targets were tied for sixth-most in the NFL and five behind Davante Adams' league-leading 17, but of the 10 players who received at least 12 targets over the weekend, only Johnson, Houston's Brandin Cooks, and Jacksonville's Christian Kirk registered seven or fewer catches.
Pat Freiermuth was second on the team and second among all NFL tight ends in targets with 10, but he pulled down just five receptions. He was mostly targeted on short passes, as he finished with an average of 7.2 targeted air yards. Johnson was Trubisky's go-to in deep routes, with an average of 10.1 yards.
Freiermuth, though, seemed encouraged by the progress of developing the timing with Trubisky.
"I think we're in a good spot," Freiermuth said. "One game live, it can tell a lot, and kind of understanding what guys are doing in the heat of the moment. I think (the chemistry) is developing nice."
This obviously extends beyond just Johnson and Freiermuth, his two top targets, but Trubisky also noted the passiveness of some of the play-calling down the stretch and, in particular, in the second half. Pittsburgh ran 61 total plays to Cincinnati's 94, and the Bengals ran away with the time of possession battle, 43:43 to 26:17.
The Steelers also were nearly tripled up on first downs (32 to 13) and converted half the amount of third downs (4-for-15) as Cincinnati did (8-for-16).
That was Trubisky's top-of-mind thought when asked to assess his offense's performance against the Bengals.
"We won the game, but there's a lot we can improve on, specifically third down (and) overall execution," he said. "I liked the calls that were in, but we've just got to go out and execute more to stay on the field and keep our defense off the field. We're looking to be better on third down this week."
He also noted the offense needs to develop a "killer" mentality in maintaining a lead once they get it. He felt the Steelers took a good number of shots downfield, but there was a lack of execution on those.
"I know when your defense is playing that well and they're getting turnovers, you just want to take care of the football," he said. "But we've got to have that killer mindset, aggressive mentality to really take teams out of the game and just not allow them to keep it close. I was proud of the way we took care of the football, but you've got to have that aggressive mentality to score points. And, it's not just the calls, it's got to be everybody on the field. It's got to be a player's mindset."
On third downs, Trubisky completed 6 of 12 passes for 45 yards. His throw-and-completions renewed three first downs, including the 26-yard gain to Freiermuth in overtime which led to Chris Boswell's game-winning field goal.
"I think timing from my perspective can be better," Trubisky said, "either getting it (there) a little sooner or waiting for plays to develop a little more. A lot of guys being in the right spot in the right time, but overall we need to execute and make the plays."
Chase Claypool was the only other Steeler to see five or more targets -- he saw six -- on Sunday. Pickens was targeted three times, Zach Gentry and Harris twice, and Jaylen Warren and Miles Boykin were each targeted once.
"(Trubisky has) gone out of his way to take us aside during the defensive and scout periods (in practice), and we're working on timing and making sure that we're all in tune," Gentry said. "Route running and concepts, but also knowing what your quarterback's thinking. Getting in-tune with him is important, because quarterbacks are all a little bit different. They all think differently depending upon the scheme, so getting together with him and knowing the combinations and also the way he thinks is important."
On the missed deep ball to Pickens, Trubisky was hurried by the Bengals pass rush and ended up throwing it out of bounds on the near side of the field.
He claimed that play was a throw-away at first, but he still should have given Pickens a chance at making the play with the defensive back burned. He also noted he wants to get the rookie more looks in Week 2 against the Patriots.
"Cover 0, I saw the corner jumping the out-route that we had, so I just told George to take off a little more so the corner can't play his 'Go' ball and squat on the out-route, as well," Trubisky said. "That's something we can just get on the same page with. It was more a throw-away than missing it. I didn't want to take a sack versus Cover 0. I definitely could've left it in-bounds to give him more of a chance, but it was more -- nobody was going to catch the ball than throwing it to George. I'm definitely looking to getting him more opportunities this week."
