Pittsburgh Steelers tight end Pat Freiermuth talked about the difference between playing with Ben Roethlisberger last year and then playing with Mitch Trubisky and then Kenny Pickett this season.
Speaking on the Footbalin podcast, recorded live at Cinderlands Brewery in Downtown Pittsburgh, Freiermuth said they didn’t have any “hot routes” like they did with Big Ben.
A hot route is a quick pass play that is most times called out as an audible when the quarterback at the line of scrimmage.
That would happen when Roethlisberger would see something different in coverage or additional rushers were added to the blitz.
Roethlisberger prompted the question with a smile on his face, asking Freiermuth what the difference was between playing with him and with Pickett.
“We didn’t have hots,” said Freiermuth. “So like with you, we had a concept and how many time did we have a concept and you’d look at [Diontae Johnson] you just give him a signal and it would be a 12-yard completion.”
“instead of looking at you the whole time, we were looking at the coverages like I know what I’m supposed to do, It was kind of like almost too slow at first because you weren’t anticipating like because with you we could see coverage,” added Freiermuth.
Roethlisberger then said that it is a skill that Pickett will learn, with Freiermuth agreeing.