Hey Guys! Welcome to another edition of Random Thoughts with Austin Kimbrough. This week’s topics are the Steelers offensive woes, Jacoby Brissett’s improvement, and Jaguars-Eagles preview. Enjoy!
Steelers offensive woes
The Pittsburgh Steelers have been hard to watch offensively this season, and many are already calling for Mitch Trubisky to be benched in lieu of Kenny Pickett. To them I say: Slow Down! While Trubisky has not been great by any means, there are plenty of other reasons the Steelers are 1-2 and only averaging eighteen points per game. One of the main issues that I’ve noticed this season is how stale the play calling is by offensive coordinator Matt Canada. When you have a quarterback who has already maximized his skillset, you have to play to that skill set in order for your offense to be successful and move the football.
What Mitch does well
Mobility, effective on bootlegs/rollouts, capable and comfortable moving to his left or right.
Escapability, ability to extend plays, some use on designed runs(read option, QB power on 3rd and short)
Fairly decent accuracy when throwing on the run
Above average passer on short to intermediate throws.
Flashes average placement into tight windows on medium/deep levels of the field
Leadership ability, named captain
Rollouts, rollouts, and more rollouts. Get Mitch on the move! He is by no means Lamar Jackson, but his mobility can help the Steelers avoid 3rd and long situations they’ve been in way too often this season. Running more read option plays would also help Steelers running back Najee Harris get going as he’s having a slow start to the season.
With the AFC as muddled as it is, the Steelers still have a legitimate shot to make the playoffs, especially the way that defense is playing. That being said, the most important thing going forward is for Matt Canada to scheme up some better passing plays for the Steelers offense. The talent is there at receiver and tight end, but they will have to adjust their routes to the quarterbacks ability. That means more mesh routes, more motion, more stacking receivers at the line of scrimmage, anything to shake the consistent man coverage teams will continue to throw at them if they don’t figure out a way to move the football.
Very impressed with Jacoby Brissett
Staying in the AFC North, the Cleveland Browns are 2-1 and a lot of the credit has to go to Jacoby Brissett. Jacoby Brissett has delivered the ball to his top playmakers, efficiently commanded the offense, and avoided game-costing mistakes and turnovers. So far this season he has completed 66 percent of his passes for 596 yards, four touchdowns and one interception. Oh and he also ranks 11th in the NFL with a 94.3 passer rating. Pretty good for a quarterback most teams didn’t consider a starter. Now of course Nick Chubb, Kareem Hunt, and the offensive line deserve a ton of credit. They have certainly done their part in helping the Browns become the leagues sixth best scoring offense. The balanced Bowns attack is helping them lead the NFL in time of possession with an average of 35:36.
Jacoby has been able to make a bunch of plays for this Browns team, and very few mistakes. He’s been very consistent on play action passes, often finding his two favorite targets, Amari Cooper, and David Njoku. Kevin Stefanski has been able to mold Jacoby perfectly in this offense and it seems as if Cleveland will be a dangerous AFC team to watch out for.
Jaguars-Eagles Preview
I don’t think anyone could’ve predicted the Jaguars being 2-1 in Doug Pederson's homecoming to Philadelphia, but here we are. Both of these teams are playing some of their best football right now. The Eagles on one hand, are one of two 3-0 teams in the NFL. They have a potential MVP quarterback in Jalen Hurts, who is continuing to make plays with his arm and his legs. The AJ Brown trade looks more like a steal by the day, the defense continues to ball out, and so far year 2 of the Nick Siranni experiment is working out.
For the Jaguars, they are already one win away from tying their wins from last season. This looks like a completely different team. The biggest improvement for the Jaguars is that Trevor Lawrence made the second year jump expected. Lawrence has completed 69 percent of his passes for 772 yards, six touchdowns and one interception with a passer rating of 103.1. Combine that with running back tandem James Robinson, and Travis Etienne and the Jaguars certainly have enough to make this a game.
The Jaguars coming off 2 big wins against the Colts, and last weeks 38-10 win over the Chargers. They should not confuse the Eagles with either of those 2 teams. This Eagles team is physical and playing with a lot of confidence right now. Jalen Hurts playing against his former coach?? Yea, pass me the popcorn.
Game Prediction: Philadelphia 31-24
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