PITTSBURGH (93.7 The Fan) – All could take blame, but the three interceptions by the Ravens a huge reason the Steelers are now 5-8 after a 16-14 loss to the Ravens.
Mitch Trubisky referred to the three interceptions Sunday in the following ways:
· 'needing to protect the football'-6 times
· 'being overly aggressive'-4 times
· 'can't force it'-2 times
· 'got to be better with my eyes'-2 times
The Steelers back-up QB wasn't offering excuses. He was admitting what he did wrong. Even while he threw a touchdown and for 276 yards, the three interceptions cost them dearly. Trubisky entered the game on the third series after Kenny Pickett went into concussion protocol following a sack by Roquan Smith.
"A lot of stuff I can do better, but coming off the bench, just wanted to go in there, try to provide a spark," Trubisky said. "I thought we did a good job moving the ball, but I've got to protect the football and that's obvious."
It's as much where the turnovers occurred as the mistakes in general. Second and eight at the Baltimore 17 down 10-7 in the second quarter, Trubisky tried to squeeze one to Pat Freiermuth. It was read by All-Pro Roquan Smith who intercepted it at the Baltimore 10. Ravens would go on to get a field goal.
"He made a throw and he had to pay for it," Smith said. "It was a great rush by the defense. I was in the right place at the right time and made a play."
Steelers get it back with 1:03 to play in the first half, Trubisky finds Diontae Johnson for 11 yards, a 50/50 ball to George Pickens that the rookie finished for 25 yards. Then seven yards to Gunner Olszewski and nine to Freiermuth. It's first-and-ten Steelers at the Ravens 23 with 26 seconds left. This time Trubisky forced it to his tight end.
"They did a good job collisioning Pat on the line of scrimmage, which made his route take a little longer," Trubisky said. "I stuck with him, probably could have used a better -- done a better job with my eyes looking off, but yeah, when it just takes a little longer, two guys in the same spot. I'll have to look at it to see exactly what happened, but the linebacker made a good play."
"I was being aggressive, at times overly aggressive, probably forced that one, especially early on the downs on first and second. I've got to take care of the football so we can come away with points down there. That's on me."
The third interception, it's first-and-ten at the Baltimore 46, Steelers still down 13-7 late in the third quarter.
"I wanted to take a shot downfield to Diontae," Trubisky said. "I thought he did a good job going inside. He was getting behind him and stacked him. We ended up hitting it later in the fourth quarter going the opposite direction. I just threw it a little too far, and I've got to be better with my eyes."
"It looked like the free safety had a jump on it. That's why he got over the top there before Diontae did. Yeah, I wanted to go down the field, take a shot and was too aggressive, and could be better with my eyes."
"We were in the red zone four times and we didn't capitalize on none of them," said Steelers tailback Najee Harris, finishing with 12 carries for 33 yards. "Field goal blocked, we could have won.
If we don't get interceptions in the red zone, we could have least ended up with three points."
"We lost by not capitalizing on red zone points."
"You just can't turn the ball over, particularly in the nature of this match-up," said Steelers Head Coach Mike Tomlin. "Usually, the team that turns the ball over in the red area is the team that loses. They've turned it over some in the red area in recent matchups and we've won those games. We turned it over in the red area in this one, so we lost this one."
Some of the Trubisky aggressiveness led to some offensive success including 277 passing yards and a TD throw to Freiermuth. What Trubisky has to do it control that better and know when to take shots.
"There's give and take," Trubisky said. "There's definitely a happy medium you need to find. I think when you have a great kicker like Chris Boswell and it's a low-scoring game, you've just got to be smarter with the football, and then a field goal keeps us in the game or helps us win it. You've just got to feel that, and obviously, I want those throws back, but you want to stay aggressive at the same time."
"We were moving the ball. Part of that was helping with that aggressive mindset. But I've got to take care of the football, bottom line."
Now the bottom line, the Steelers are 5-8 and their chances of making the playoffs are starting to look like the ones for hitting the lottery.
