Following Sunday’s loss to the Cincinnati Bengals, there wasn’t a lot to be excited about from the Pittsburgh Steelers coming out of that game. The offense put up 30 points for the first time all season, but still dealt with major inefficiencies in the second half which led to more possessions for the Bengals offense. The defense didn’t hold up their end of things well either as they surrendered 355 yards and four TDs to QB Joe Burrow and the Bengals’ passing attack.
Still, the offense did show signs of life as mentioned above as rookie QB Kenny Pickett took charge of the offense in the first half by leading several scoring drives. Pickett completed 25-of-42 pass attempts for 265 yards and a TD to WR George Pickens while chipping in two carries for 14 yards and didn’t turn the football over.
Pickett was asked about his development as a rookie thus far in 2022 and what his personal expectations are for himself to become the franchise QB that Pittsburgh drafted him to be in the first round of the 2022 NFL Draft.
“Yeah, it’s having high expectations and continuing to work every day and I’ll get to where I want to be and where I know I can be,” Pickett said to the media Wednesday in the locker room on video from Chris Adamski’s Twitter page. “That’s between myself and showing up and being the same guy every day. Come ready to work and listen to my coaches.”
As Alex Kozora pointed out in a recent video breakdown on Pickett against the Bengals, the young signal caller is getting better and is showing flashes of inspiring play to suggest that he indeed can become a franchise-caliber quarterback. The 2022 season hasn’t been kind to the Steelers as well as Pickett who still has double the number of interceptions as he has TD passes this year, but he has continually shown progress in terms of poise in the pocket as well as accuracy to place ball on his receivers in tight coverage.
Pickett still has a long way to go in terms of becoming a consistent, reliable starter that a team can rely on making big play in the crucial moments of the game to secure victory, but the growing pains Pickett has had to endure are starting to yield promising results, giving us a glimpse of the QB he can possibly become in 2023 and beyond.
