Welcome to Brian Batko’s Steelers mailbag. You’re more than welcome to email him at bbatko@post-gazette.com, tweet him @BrianBatko or slide into his DMs to inquire about the Steelers, NFL or anything out of bounds.
Kenny in San Diego: The Steelers have struggled in the red zone and there has yet to be a single TD catch made by a wide receiver on this team. In fact, there has only been ONE reception by a WR in the red zone this year (Claypool, 4 yards, Q2 of WK 1). With this being said, which WR do you think will break the streak and in which week will they make it happen?
Brian: Unsurprisingly, the Steelers are last in the league in passing touchdowns with two, so, unsurprisingly, they’re the only team that hasn’t thrown one to a wide receiver. Normally, I would say that stat doesn’t matter all that much. You could be a team whose strength lies in other areas, and your offense is creative, so you’re distributing the ball to those people. For instance, the Chiefs are first in the league with 15 passing touchdowns, yet only two of those have gone to wideouts (Mecole Hardman and South Fayette’s own Justin Watson).
But the Steelers aren't that sort of team. They’ve invested a lot in their wide receivers, both financially and draft-wise, so that unit should be thriving as opposed to just being along for the ride.
Of course, they’re far from blameless. Diontae Johnson and George Pickens have had chances in the end zone, arguably opportunities they should’ve made good on to score. But the talent is there. That’s why I think the streak ends this week, and it’ll be Pickens who breaks it.
It’s clear the Steelers have made a more concerted effort the last few weeks to get Pickens involved. He continues to show why when they throw to him. Tampa Bay has been stingy against wide receivers, particularly slot receivers, thanks to the brilliance of Antoine Winfield Jr. Of the four touchdowns they’ve allowed to wideouts, only one has been to an inside receiver, and the Chiefs diced them up by throwing three touchdowns to tight ends and two to a running back.
If anyone’s going to crack the Bucs secondary, it’s Pickens. So the official prediction is that he scores the first wide receiver touchdown for the 2022 Steelers, and it happens this Sunday.
Mike M: Are next year's backup and number three quarterbacks on the team this year?
Brian: That’s a good question, Mike. My guess is no.
Mitch Trubisky and Mason Rudolph have handled everything professionally. Obviously, Trubisky let his frustration show a bit in the locker room answering questions after the Jets game, but I can’t blame him for that. I had my binoculars on him a decent amount in Buffalo and never saw him sulking, standing with a different position group or anything like that. Every time I looked down at the sideline, he was sitting with Kenny Pickett and quarterbacks coach Mike Sullivan.
But all that being said, how could any guy want to be here next year? Rudolph had to see the writing on the wall after free agency, then the draft, and even a strong (at least by his standards) training camp didn’t do anything to move the meter in his direction. Trubisky got what he was promised, a chance to start, but the leash was shorter than just about anyone who watched training camp closely would’ve projected.
Assuming Pickett enters 2023 as the unquestioned starter — and anything short of that would be a shock — this feels like the perfect situation to bring in a veteran backup to help him while using a late draft pick on a developmental rookie, perhaps. Guys like Case Keenum, Andy Dalton and Chad Henne hit the market every offseason for a role such as that, and actually, all three of those exact dudes are set to be unrestricted free agents in 2023. So is Teddy Bridgewater, who could help the Steelers set a record for most gloves worn in a quarterback room.
Larry G from Punxy: Are we that bad, or are the Bills just that good, and they came to play hard on Sunday?
Brian: Mike Tomlin seems to think it might be the latter. After all, he made sure to point out that the Titans got smashed almost as badly as the Steelers, with a 41-7 loss in the Bills’ only other home game to date. Those are the two biggest blowouts so far this season.
But it should probably be noted that the Titans at least hung tough for a half, trailing 17-7 as opposed to 31-3. I’m not going to make excuses for the Steelers. They were terrible. I’ll also say the Bills are the best team I’ve seen this year, be it in-person or on TV.
If they end up hoisting the Lombardi Trophy in Arizona, I won’t be surprised. In fact, if I had to put my money on anyone, it’d be Buffalo. Josh Allen makes some throws that only seemed possible in video games. Von Miller is still a beast. The role players surrounding both are impressive and their depth is staggering. Five weeks in, it appears they’re on a collision course to meet the Chiefs again — to play a de facto Super Bowl in the AFC title game — and with the Lions and Bears on their schedule, it’s possible they’ll surpass that 35-point margin of victory at some point.
Think you have better questions? Email bbatko@post-gazette.com or write him on Twitter @BrianBatko.
First Published: October 14, 2022, 1:29 p.m.
