Pittsburgh Steelers rookie quarterback Kenny Pickett made huge strides throughout the season. One of the biggest strides he made was at the end of games, leading four game-winning drives after the bye week, including two game-winning drives in the final minute in Weeks 16 and 17.
Pickett, though, self-admittedly struggled with the two-minute drill early on in the season and today he joined Cam Heyward’s podcast and talked about his growth in that area.
“Early on I was struggling with the two-minute drill against you guys all the time,” Pickett said on Not Just Football With Cam Heyward. I was always trying to hunt that big play, instead of letting the big play come to me as the drive would go. I would talk to Coach Flores, Coach Flo was huge because he kind of really helped me with the two minute drill along with Coach Sully and Coach Canada. I would talk to him after every single one and he’s like ‘You’re going to need that once chunk play and after you get that chunk play you can just take what they give you down into the red zone then you got to make that big time throw to score.’”
Pickett’s biggest moments of the year came against the Las Vegas Raiders where he found fellow rookie George Pickens in the end zone to win in the last minute and the next week at the Baltimore Ravens where he found Najee Harris after scrambling for the game-winning touchdown. Those two game-winning drives kept the Steelers’ playoff hopes alive.
The saying is “Iron Sharpens Iron,” and hoping up against a great Steelers defense in practice every week certainly does that. Pickett saying Coach Brian Flores was the biggest help in the two-minute drill was really interesting. Flores, a former head coach, was a linebacker coach this past season for the Steelers but clearly had a profound impact on Pickett. His advice about one big chunk play is clearly shown in the Ravens game when Pickett his Steven Sims over the middle for a huge gain.
Pickett’s development this year is a huge feather in the cap of the Steelers coaching staff. He started a wide-eyed rookie who turned the ball over a lot, and by the end of the season, he was a careful yet clutch quarterback who could go win close games. There is obviously a lot still to be untapped with Pickett, but so far so good, and it really goes back to the staff of veteran assistant coaches hired by Mike Tomlin.
