PITTSBURGH (93.7 The Fan) – At no point did Mike Tomlin say, at least publicly, that he considered going to Mason Rudolph Thursday night, but Mitch Trubisky knew he was struggling. He heard the fans and didn’t run away after the game from being a reason they lost 21-18 to New England.
“I have to play better,” Trubisky said. “I feel like I let the guys down.”
“Got to score off the turnover, couple of those fourth downs, the one in the red zone and the one ball to Diontae. I have to do better for the guys, for the team. It's disappointing. Missed opportunities. I didn't play good enough for us to win,
and that's how I'm feeling right now.”
In his first start of the season and just his second since losing the starting job last year, Trubisky went 22-35 for 190 yards with a touchdown and an interception, that ended up costing the Steelers seven points.
He explained that on the interception, that tight end Pat Freiermuth had a ‘bender’ route. He thought he was going to bend in front of safety Jabrill Peppers a little end, ‘so it ends up being a bad decision’.
Trubisky said the Patriots did a good job of disrupting the timing of some of the routes. He said New England mixed up coverages and stopped the run putting them in uncomfortable third and long situations. He said they weren’t good enough in the first and second quarter.
“And (that) mostly starts with me,” Trubisky said. “I feel like timing was a part of that. I just got to be better.”
Trubisky explained on the miss deep to Diontae Johnson on the fourth-and-two with 2:01 to play in the game that he had multiple options on the play. The safety was favoring George Pickens and he liked the one-on-one with Johnson.
“I felt like I could throw a better ball,” Trubisky said.
Mike Tomlin said Trubisky got better as the game went on, but it wasn’t the type of start they needed.
“We got to be better in situational football, and that's third down in the red
zone,” Trubisky said. “Whatever we're doing, I don't know, we got to change it up. The guys know the starting plays to start out. We're just not executing at a high level.”
“Starts with me and the leaders on the team. We got to be better.”
The accountability is there from Trubisky, but so was another inconsistent performance. He had another chance to show he could be a starter in the NFL and again missed the mark.