PITTSBURGH (93.7 The Fan) – As much as fans want to see the Steelers throw the ball down the field more, so does quarterback Mitch Trubisky.
"We just got to hit those," Trubisky said Wednesday about deep throws. "We hit those in practice. We hit a couple in the preseason. That early one to Boykin, if we hit that one I think it opens up a lot of different stuff for us."
"Maybe it's a different story on third down or a different feel for how we feel about offense. We are going to continue to take those shots. Continue to work the timing in practice. We would like to come up with those big plays."
It's going 4 of 15 on third down that bothered Trubisky most about the offense on Sunday. That was as much execution and he knows they can't be a minus 17 in time of possession. He was critical of his own timing with his receivers, saying he needs to either get the ball there a little sooner or wait for plays to develop a little more.
Some of the issues are 'first game stuff' and he said this group is still building chemistry together. He said you can't really replicate what happens in practice in the game. Plus, the defense will adjust to schemes you didn't prepare for.
"I think we took a good amount of deep balls into the last game, we just got to hit them," Trubisky said. "If you hit them earlier, it opens up the intermediate and short stuff. Along with the run game, once you hit those you see what opens up with the offense."
He says it's not that they want to or will play conservatively. The plan is to stretch the field and we'll see that evolve.
"I don't think it was a mindset," Trubisky said. "It was something that progressed during the game (Sunday). When your defense is playing that well and getting turnovers, you just want to take care of the football."
"You need to have that killer mindset, aggressive mentality to take teams out of games and not allow them to keep it close. You have to have that aggressive mentality to score points. It's not just the calls. It's got to be a players mindset."
He will be aggressive as well. He wants to use his feet more. It was his first start in 21 months and while so many are anxious for more. No one has as much riding on this as Trubisky.
"I want to score points," Trubisky said. "I want this offense to score points and be aggressive. When you get turnovers, you have to turn them into points. We have to turn them into touchdowns and not field goals."
