Kenny Pickett was a guest on Cameron Heyward’s Not Just Football podcast Monday, and during the interview, Heyward asked Pickett his thoughts on play-action.
“I love it,” Pickett said. “There’s a give-and-take to it. If you have a really good run game you can trust that the fake’s gonna do it what it needs to do to set up everything else but if the run game’s not too good and those guys don’t step up, that’s where I can see it being some problems.”
If used properly, play-action could be a big part of Pittsburgh’s offense this year. It’s going to be a team that relies on the run game, so it can use the run game to set up the pass and particularly in play-action.
Last season, Pickett was 43-66 on play-action pass attempts, throwing for 343 yards and no touchdowns with one interception. Those numbers should stand to improve this season.
Like Pickett said though, the run game has to be good for play-action to work. If the running back doesn’t sell the fake or the defense simply isn’t worried about stopping the run, play-action won’t be successful. The Steelers’ run game success has fluctuated over the past few seasons, but with an offensive line built for the ground game and Najee Harris and Jaylen Warren expected to take a step forward, the run game should be a strength this season.
If the run game doesn’t perform well, the Steelers offense as a whole might not perform well. Pickett is going to improve, and he has talented weapons with Diontae Johnson, George Pickens and Pat Freiermuth, among others. But no team can succeed being one-dimensional and having a second-year quarterback makes it a whole lot harder.
Last year, the playbook was rather rudimentary, but this year it should hopefully expand. Really, it has to if Matt Canada wants to keep working as an offensive coordinator in the NFL. More play-action usage to help keep defenses on their toes and hopefully help the Steelers passing offense become potent could and should be a part of that.
In general, with Pickett taking a step forward and the offense expanding, I think he could be in store for a season that might surprise some people. If you just look at his counting stats last season, Pickett didn’t have a great season. But he proved he could lead his team to victory and made a lot of plays down the stretch, and that showed growth. With a whole offseason to prepare and continue building chemistry with his offense, the counting stats might just be there this year.
I’m excited about Pittsburgh’s offense, and hopefully, it does expand and look different from last year’s. I’m hoping to see a few long receptions off play-action in 2023.
