If you’re into advanced stats, this is the topic for you. Pro Football Focus is full of them and yesterday named the best quarterbacks against almost every type of situation. Short passes, deep passes, zone coverage, against the blitz, and several other stratifications.
Pittsburgh Steelers starter Kenny Pickett popped up positively in several of those categories. Per PFF’s Amelia Probst, Pickett graded highly in deep passes, under pressure, against the blitz, and against man coverage. To be clear, he didn’t rank first in any of those categories, but he was among the league’s best.
We wrote about Pickett’s effectiveness on deep passes early this month and won’t spend much time on it again. But PFF gave him a 93.9 grade on such passes, which it considers 20+ yards downfield. Pickett’s accuracy on deep balls was actually better than on shorter/intermediate routes, though it helped to have a vacuum like George Pickens to catch some of those.
Pickett was even better under pressure, coming away with a third-best 73.2 passing grade. Interestingly enough, the top two on the list were Atlanta’s Desmond Ridder and fellow Steelers quarterback Mitch Trubisky, which may suggest some sort of a sample size issue. Several of the top names here were backups or part-time players but still, Pickett graded out well here. That matches with his scouting report: cool, calm, and collected, and a quarterback who got more comfortable hanging in the pocket after the bye week.
It was a similar story against the blitz, Pickett finishing with a 77.3 passer grade, 9th-best in the NFL. Three of Pickett’s seven touchdowns came against the blitz, which partially goes with his ability to beat man coverage. At the top of PFF’s list against the blitz was Trubisky, who generally has graded well analytically, and is one of the top backups in the league.
Pickett excelled against man coverage, 8th overall with a 80.9 passing grade. That jibes with our full breakdown of him, noting he struggled more against zone coverage. Pickett was better pushing the ball downfield against man and these numbers back that up. Joe Burrow was the NFL’s best QB against man coverage, more than ten points better at 91.5.
Here’s a recap of the notable stats.
Kenny Pickett – PFF Grades
Deep Passes: 7th-Best (93.9 Grade)
Under Pressure: 3rd-Best (73.2 Grade)
Against The Blitz: 9th-Best (77.3 Grade)
Against Man Coverage: 8th-Best (80.9 Grade)
As is standard, if PFF offers favorable stats, its site is valuable. If not, it’s wonky, poindexter garbage. But generally, these figures align with what we saw on tape. Getting better against zone coverage and post-snap rotations will be one of Pickett’s keys this season in addition to being more consistent with ball placement in the short/intermediate game. If he can do that, along with the offense simply being more productive, he’ll make the leap the franchise needs.
