Ben Roethlisberger wants more 'shots down the field' from Steelers offense, less heat from fans on Mitch Trubisky

Big Ben wants bigger plays from the Pittsburgh Steelers offense.

In the latest edition of his “Footbahlin’” podcast, the team’s former quarterback Ben Roethlisberger had a conversation with former Steeler and NFL analyst Merril Hoge.

Roethlisberger said that he’d like to see the Steelers be more aggressive on offense.

“Go down the field. Take some shots down the field. Whether that’s the play-calling, whether that’s Mitchell (Trubisky) not throwing if it was called, I don’t know. But I just kept sitting there like, ‘Come on. You’ve got to back a defense up.’ … Every once in a while, take one shot. We are missing the explosive plays right now,” Roethlisberger said.

While wrapping up the loss to the Patriots, Roethlisberger also talked about how crucial the dropped interception by Cam Sutton was in the loss to the New England Patriots. Part of the point Roethlisberger was making was that he was surprised to see Sutton drop a pass like that because he feels that Sutton’s hands are among the best he’s ever seen for a defensive back.

Another point that Roethlisberger made was that he thought that the boo birds and “Kenny, Kenny” chants calling for backup QB Kenny Pickett to replace starter Mitch Trubisky during his first home start were unfair.

“When they drafted Kenny, more than half the city probably wanted him to start right from the get-go. Even before he played a down, because he is a Pitt kid and Mitch comes with some baggage from Chicago,” Roethlisberger said. “But give the man a chance, I thought. … And we heard it. They started chanting ‘Kenny.’ I just don’t think it’s fair that it happened to Mitch (Sunday), because I wouldn’t blame Mitch for the performance.”

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Hoge also had some very interesting things to say about how Pickett should be adept at running pro concepts because of what he ran at Pitt.

“I don’t have to guess that he can do that, I watched him do that,” Hoge said of Pickett’s time as a Panther. “That was a true pro-style system.”

But Hoge was also critical of some of the things that offensive coordinator Matt Canada is doing in the run game.

“I’m a little confused on how he designs the run,” Hoge said. “I don’t know that he threatens the box. I actually think that he adds more people to the box, and he puts more people in bad spots in the running game. Some of his motions, they bring people in, and the jet stuff isn’t affecting anybody. You are pulling somebody into the box. You aren’t affecting anybody on the back end. So now you’ve got more people in there than you even wanted. Schematically, there are some things that don’t make sense with it.”

Roethlisberger also has some video and discussed going to a Steelers game at Acrisure Stadium for the first time as a fan Sunday afternoon.