I get it. The Pittsburgh Steelers lost a winnable game in Week 11 to their AFC North rival Cleveland Browns. You want change. You want it now, especially at quarterback. The sting of defeat takes time to heal but we must keep it moving. It won't be long before the Steelers have to prepare for another big division rivalry game as they hit the road again in Week 12 for a date with the Cincinnati Bengals.
Steelers Nation has been up in arms for a while now with all complaints and frustrations mostly directed at their offense. It's true, fans are desperate for something, anything to be changed so they can get hope back that at 6-4, this Steelers season can be saved and at least make a playoff run.
The truth of the matter is, yes, the Steelers offense is bad but it's not at the point where head coach Mike Tomlin needs to bench starting quarterback Kenny Pickett for a third-string quarterback. It just wouldn't make any football sense but at the end of the day, the most logical change is to enforce better offensive preparations specifically for that week's opponent. Also, without question, tweak the offensive playbook from the hot mess that it is now to something better.
The Steelers should not make a quarterback change to Mason Rudolph
It's no secret that offensive coordinator Matt Canada is on the hot seat. His offensive play calling is terrible and even though some of the blame should fall on Pickett's shoulders, there's only so much he can do with the same boring, predictable, lackluster offensive game plan week in, week out.
Switching quarterbacks at this critical part of the regular season will not magically turn the Steelers' offense into a powerhouse. What realistically needs to happen is Canada needs to delete half of his offensive playbook immediately and actually create plays that cater to the strengths of this offense.
Enough of the draw plays. Enough of the predictable screens. Stop sticking to the same weekly offensive game plan no matter what and failing to adjust as needed throughout the course of a football game. Get better with offensive halftime adjustments and above all else, create better offensive plays that actually get your players excited to execute in a positive, fun way.
Frustrations are at an all-time high with the locker room and when an offensive coordinator keeps things exactly the same each week and hopes for different results, that's insanity. Just like it would also be insane to bench a player of Pickett's caliber for a third-string quarterback who couldn't even earn a backup quarterback job in training camp.
Rudolph isn't going to come in and magically throw for five touchdowns each week and he's a third-string quarterback at this stage of his career for a reason. Yes, we want change but it's best to start from the top down instead of inserting a lower-caliber quarterback just to have hope he's "the answer" going forward.
Pickett is fine, it's more about Canada than who the starting quarterback of the Steelers is. Either Canada needs to do a better job in preparation and in-game offensive game plan adjustments or he needs to go. It's as simple as that in the grand scheme of things. Benching Pickett for Rudolph now won't do anything except add more rage and frustration to Steelers Nation. It all starts and ends with Canada at this point in time.