Steelers starter Mitchell Trubisky was pulled in the second half of Sunday’s game against the Jets after a poor first-half performance.
Coach Mike Tomlin turned to rookie first-round pick Kenny Pickett, who in his first NFL appearance, gave the offense a second-half spark with two touchdown runs. However, it ended up being a mixed bag through the air for Pickett, who threw three second-half interceptions that proved costly in the 24–20 loss.
In total, Pickett went 10-for-13 passing for 120 yards.
Trubisky spoke with reporters after the game about his first-half performance and being benched in favor of the rookie Pickett.
“Disappointed, obviously, but that’s part of it,” Trubisky said.
When asked if he had any expectations for what happens next in regard to continuing as a starting quarterback, Trubisky turned his focus toward getting better.
“Nope, just going to come into work, be a good teammate and continue to try to be a leader for this team and go back to work and try to help any way I can. It’s a tough deal. It’s definitely not what I wanted, not what I expected, but part of it.”
Tomlin was noncommittal after the game when asked who would start next week against the Bills.
“I’m not going to talk extended as we sit here,” Tomlin said, per Pittsburgh sports columnist Dejan Kovacevic. “We did what we needed to do to put ourselves in position to win this game, and we’ll do it again. But, I like to just keep it where we are. In terms of what transpired here today, we’ll deal with next week next week.”
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