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Ben Roethlisberger surprised by switch to Kenny Pickett, tells rookie to 'play with confidence'
ADAM BITTNER
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
OCT 4, 2022
Ben Roethlisberger wasn’t expecting to see Kenny Pickett debut against the New York Jets on Sunday.
The Steelers’ former Pro Bowl quarterback said on his weekly podcast Monday that he was surprised to see coach Mike Tomlin make the change from Mitch Trubisky because it wasn’t just the former Chicago Bears quarterback who was struggling.
“To me, the whole offense was stagnant,” Roethlisberger said on his Footbahlin show. “It wasn’t like it was Mitch’s thing. ... They’re not running the ball real well. Nothing really going on.
“But to me, when you pull [Trubisky], I get what you’re trying to do. You’re trying to create a spark. Which, I think it happened. ... When you put someone new in there at a position like that, it’s going to create some sort of a spark. It’s going to create energy. It’s going to do that. So you’re going to naturally, a lot of times, get that ‘let’s go!’ And you got that.
“But in my opinion, I didn’t know that it needed to happen. But Mike’s the coach. He did it. It seemed like ... I heard that the stadium was crazy loud. It obviously energized the defense, the fans, the offense. Minkah [Fitzpatrick] gets that pick-six. Everything’s kind of falling into place.”
Unfortunately for the Steelers, it wasn’t quite that simple. After Pickett scored his second rushing touchdown to make the score 20-10, the Jets answered with a score of their own, then intercepted Pickett off a desperate second-down pass against a heavy rush tipped off the hands of tight end Pat Freiermuth and into the waiting arms of a defender.
The Jets then marched down to score the winning touchdown on a clock-killing drive, giving the Steelers only a handful of seconds to respond. They didn’t, and dropped to 1-3 on the campaign.
Roethlisberger said he texted with Pickett afterward, and the rookie took the loss hard, mostly because of the mistake he made on the pass to Freiermuth, but also because he threw a pick on his first NFL pass earlier in the game, too.
“I did tell Kenny I did it, too,” Roethlisberger said, recalling an interception on his second NFL pass against the Baltimore Ravens back in 2004. “You’ll be just fine. Whatever. That happened. But they still have life, they’re still going. He rushed for two touchdowns.
“I think he’s beating himself up a little bit on the last interception. Kenny texted me like, ‘I’ve gotta throw that one away.’ And I’m like, listen. You’re talking to the guy that rarely ever threw a ball away. So just go play with confidence.”
Indeed, that gunslinger mentality has seemed to be missing from the Steelers offense since Roethlisberger announced his retirement early this year after the playoff loss to the Kansas City Chiefs.
The primary criticism of Trubisky among many has been that his cautiousness has prevented the Steelers from making bigger plays down the field — plays Roethlisberger would have at least tried to make, even though his ability to execute was clearly diminished by his physical decline in his final season.
Pickett showed more decisiveness, even though it didn’t work out at times. And now, Roethlisberger believes the job needs to be his for good, barring an injury that would give Trubisky another shot.
“I always felt, too, that if you made the switch, you almost have to stay with it,” Roethlisberger said. “You can’t go back and forth because you’ll crush confidence. I don’t think you can. I mean, you could. I don’t know if it’s the smart move. So it’s almost like, now, you’ve got to stick with it.”
At the same time, Roethlisberger doesn’t want to bury Trubisky, either.
Rather, he stuck up for the veteran, who’s been criticized by some for his postgame reaction to his benching after he finished the Jets game with 84 yards and an interception on 7 of 13 passing, plus a passer rating of 41.8.
“I heard that some of the media or people were kind of giving Mitch some flak for his postgame presser for maybe being short with his answers. What do you expect?” Roethlisberger asked rhetorically. “Like, give the man a break. He just got pulled at halftime and people have been chanting for Kenny for weeks now. Don’t give that guy grief because he feels like he’s frustrated or maybe he wants to do better. Like, c’mon. That’s ridiculous. You don’t know what you’re talking about. It’s just annoying.”
ADAM BITTNER
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
OCT 4, 2022
Ben Roethlisberger wasn’t expecting to see Kenny Pickett debut against the New York Jets on Sunday.
The Steelers’ former Pro Bowl quarterback said on his weekly podcast Monday that he was surprised to see coach Mike Tomlin make the change from Mitch Trubisky because it wasn’t just the former Chicago Bears quarterback who was struggling.
“To me, the whole offense was stagnant,” Roethlisberger said on his Footbahlin show. “It wasn’t like it was Mitch’s thing. ... They’re not running the ball real well. Nothing really going on.
“But to me, when you pull [Trubisky], I get what you’re trying to do. You’re trying to create a spark. Which, I think it happened. ... When you put someone new in there at a position like that, it’s going to create some sort of a spark. It’s going to create energy. It’s going to do that. So you’re going to naturally, a lot of times, get that ‘let’s go!’ And you got that.
“But in my opinion, I didn’t know that it needed to happen. But Mike’s the coach. He did it. It seemed like ... I heard that the stadium was crazy loud. It obviously energized the defense, the fans, the offense. Minkah [Fitzpatrick] gets that pick-six. Everything’s kind of falling into place.”
Unfortunately for the Steelers, it wasn’t quite that simple. After Pickett scored his second rushing touchdown to make the score 20-10, the Jets answered with a score of their own, then intercepted Pickett off a desperate second-down pass against a heavy rush tipped off the hands of tight end Pat Freiermuth and into the waiting arms of a defender.
The Jets then marched down to score the winning touchdown on a clock-killing drive, giving the Steelers only a handful of seconds to respond. They didn’t, and dropped to 1-3 on the campaign.
Roethlisberger said he texted with Pickett afterward, and the rookie took the loss hard, mostly because of the mistake he made on the pass to Freiermuth, but also because he threw a pick on his first NFL pass earlier in the game, too.
“I did tell Kenny I did it, too,” Roethlisberger said, recalling an interception on his second NFL pass against the Baltimore Ravens back in 2004. “You’ll be just fine. Whatever. That happened. But they still have life, they’re still going. He rushed for two touchdowns.
“I think he’s beating himself up a little bit on the last interception. Kenny texted me like, ‘I’ve gotta throw that one away.’ And I’m like, listen. You’re talking to the guy that rarely ever threw a ball away. So just go play with confidence.”
Indeed, that gunslinger mentality has seemed to be missing from the Steelers offense since Roethlisberger announced his retirement early this year after the playoff loss to the Kansas City Chiefs.
The primary criticism of Trubisky among many has been that his cautiousness has prevented the Steelers from making bigger plays down the field — plays Roethlisberger would have at least tried to make, even though his ability to execute was clearly diminished by his physical decline in his final season.
Pickett showed more decisiveness, even though it didn’t work out at times. And now, Roethlisberger believes the job needs to be his for good, barring an injury that would give Trubisky another shot.
“I always felt, too, that if you made the switch, you almost have to stay with it,” Roethlisberger said. “You can’t go back and forth because you’ll crush confidence. I don’t think you can. I mean, you could. I don’t know if it’s the smart move. So it’s almost like, now, you’ve got to stick with it.”
At the same time, Roethlisberger doesn’t want to bury Trubisky, either.
Rather, he stuck up for the veteran, who’s been criticized by some for his postgame reaction to his benching after he finished the Jets game with 84 yards and an interception on 7 of 13 passing, plus a passer rating of 41.8.
“I heard that some of the media or people were kind of giving Mitch some flak for his postgame presser for maybe being short with his answers. What do you expect?” Roethlisberger asked rhetorically. “Like, give the man a break. He just got pulled at halftime and people have been chanting for Kenny for weeks now. Don’t give that guy grief because he feels like he’s frustrated or maybe he wants to do better. Like, c’mon. That’s ridiculous. You don’t know what you’re talking about. It’s just annoying.”
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