To say it was a rough outing for the Pittsburgh Steelers would be putting it lightly. Nothing went right for Mike Tomlin’s squad, either on defense or offense. Rookie signal-caller Kenny Pickett struggled mightily to get anything going, at least as far as putting up points on the board. Nevertheless, as Pickett spoke with the media after the game, he insisted that no one is pointing fingers, much less any disrespect.
Coming into Sunday’s matchup with the Buffalo Bills, expectations were mild. As far as Pickett’s individual performance, he was forced to throw the ball 52 times. The run game was highly ineffective, and when you’re trailing from the outset, it’s up to the quarterback to make it happen. Regrettably, the Steelers were ineffective in the red zone. By the game’s conclusion, he only had one interception to show for his efforts.
“There’s no finger pointing. I gotta take a lot of ownership of this as the quarterback of this team. They drafted me in the first round for a reason. I wanted to be the guy, so there are a lot of things that come with that,” said Pickett on taking charge moving forward.
It wasn’t pretty but obviously Pickett knows that it’s on him to help pick up the pieces after such a demoralizing loss.
Despite being a rookie, Pickett is already taking an active role in leading his team. He shared some insight on how everything’s being handled. In particular, he talked about how he will go about talking to his teammates.
“I think that the respect is there. So when I’m talking to guys, there’s no disrespect, there’s no calling anybody out. You know, we all want win. So that’s something that we gotta continue to work towards. The road doesn’t get easier, so it’s gotta get, you know, fixed quickly.”
Coach Tomlin already stated that any changes are on the table, no exceptions. One change that’ll likely no happen is at quarterback. After Trubisky failed to deliver, Pickett was handed the keys. Following a difficult and embarrassing defeat, the rookie quarterback is saying all the right things.
A loss such as this one will require lots of rallying and it will start with the leader of the offense. Finger-pointing or disrespecting isn’t something you ever hear about with the Steelers’ locker room. Thankfully, there are many veterans that know this, as well. If nothing else, Pickett is learning how to lead an NFL locker room from the right people.
