For the second consecutive week, the Pittsburgh Steelers had quite a roller-coaster showing on offense. The Steelers put up 14 points on the scoreboard in their narrow three-point home loss to the New England Patriots in Week 2.
As was the case in their Week 1 road win over the Cincinnati Bengals, the Mitchell Trubisky-led Steelers offense struggled to muster up much in the first half against the Patriots. From Trubisky's lack of chemistry with both Diontae Johnson and Chase Claypool to the mere one scoring drive anchored, not much went Pittsburgh’s way in the opening half.
During several instances in the game, the Acrisure Stadium crowd began to ring out chants for Kenny Pickett, calling for the rookie quarterback to make his long-awaited NFL debut. Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin gave no consideration to making a change at the quarterback position, as he kept Trubisky in the game, and the sixth-year passer responded by guiding the AFC North powerhouse to two scoring drives in the second half.
As with Tomlin, Trubisky also did not want to pay any attention to the chants.
“It is what it is,” Trubisky said during his post-game press conference. “You just block it out and continue to play football.”
Overall, Trubisky finished the day with 168 passing yards and a 73.8 passer rating. He also completed 62.5 percent of passes when targeting Johnson and Claypool.
Trubisky will need to immediately turn the page on this home defeat, as the Steelers will have a short week coming up due to their Week 3 road game against the Cleveland Browns on Thursday.
