Steelers offense adjustments good for the team, bad for Pat Freiermuth

The Pittsburgh Steelers were efficient on offense against the Panthers, but it came at the cost of not using one of their best players in Week 15. 

Outside of a few plays after the whistle that showed their lack of discipline at times, Pittsburgh Steelers fans shouldn’t have a lot to complain about when it comes to the team’s Week 15 road win over the Carolina Panthers. After a hat trick of interceptions against the Ravens last week, Mitch Trubisky not only improved against the Panthers, but he handled his game-managing role perfectly.

It was clear that the Steelers weren’t asking Trubisky to do too much. This was evidenced by the fact that he threw just 22 passes compared to Pittsburgh rushing the ball a whopping 45 times. However, this adjusted game plan seemed to be quite solid against an unspectacular opponent.

In the end, Trubisky certainly did enough to allow his team to win the game without trying to force too much. He finished by completing 17 of 22 passes for 179 yards (8.1 yards per attempt). While he didn’t throw a touchdown pass, he did rush for a score.

The key here though is not turning the ball over. Had he been able to do so last week, Pittsburgh no doubt wins that game against the Ravens and is still in the playoff hunt.

Steelers win, but is this offensive game plan sustainable?

While Pittsburgh did come away with a comfortable road win (despite being underdogs in this contest), the question becomes whether or not this type of offensive game plan is sustainable.

If you check out ESPN’s box score following the game, you might have noticed that Pat Freiermuth’s name was missing. No, this wasn’t a mistake. For the first time in his two-year career, Freiermuth did not record a reception for a game he suited up for. Taking it one spet further, this was the first time in his career that the talented tight end did not record a single target in a game.

In what was likely an effort to protect Mitch Trubisky from his own poor decision-making over the middle of the field, Freiermuth was not involved in the passing game. If you recall, just last week, Trubisky threw two of his three interceptions when targetting Freiermuth over the middle of the field.

Obviously, we can’t blame the tight end for the quarterback’s decision to force the ball into traffic. However, when some of these costly decisions were eliminated in Week 15, it allowed the Steelers to cruise to victory.

Unfortunately, I don’t believe this offensive game plan will be sustainable. While fans will take the win every time, you can only win so many games when one of your best players isn’t involved. We all know at this point that Freiermuth is a beast.

The second-year player looks to be one of the best up-and-coming tight ends in the NFL, and after nearly a full season in 2022, he has graded out as one of the very best tight ends in the league.

Against better teams, the Pittsburgh Steelers simply won’t be able to operate a game plan that has them running the ball twice as much as they pass it. When they do look to move the chains against formidable opponents, Freiermuth must be involved, as he’s probably the most reliable pass-catcher on the team.

I don’t expect many of these types of games for Pittsburgh’s offense in the future where one of their best players simply doesn’t see the ball. However, Matt Canada called a solid game against the Panthers and Mitch Trubisky executed just like he needed to.