Over the course of a 17-game regular season, every NFL team is likely to have their highs and lows. The same could be said for individual players, specifically the quarterback position. One game, you could be facing one of the worst defenses in the league and throw for 300 yards and three TDs whereas the next week you could be facing a top five defense and throw for under 200 yards and toss a couple of interceptions.
The goal of a franchise quarterback is to be consistent on a game-to-game basis, regardless of the opponent. Take care of the football. Complete third-down passes. Move the offense down the field. Put points on the board. The best quarterbacks in the league do this regularly as Joe Burrow and Patrick Mahomes are two quintessential examples of passers who deliver consistently on a weekly basis.
Pittsburgh Steelers QB Kenny Pickett is striving to put himself in that category and has been using this offseason and the first week of training camp to improve his consistency in hopes it translating to the regular season.
“I liked the decisions I was making and how fast I was making them,” Pickett said, according to Judy Battista of NFL.com. “And being smart with the football and knowing when to take shots when we have looks that allow us to go deep and give these guys chances down the field. Just the consistency I was playing with, I really liked. I want to be consistently good, then I’ll be happy with how the year goes.”
Last season, Pickett wasn’t the most consistent quarterback on a weekly basis. That’s to be expected for a rookie quarterback learning on the fly in an offense that lacked splash but having no multi-touchdown games last season along with surpassing 200 passing yards only four times shows room for improvement heading into 2023. From an on-field standpoint, Pickett can do a better job of starting games fast and consistently getting the offense into scoring position rather than sitting in neutral until the fourth quarter to turn it on.
By all accounts, Pickett has looked the part thus far in training camp, commanding the offense, and finishing with three-straight touchdowns in Seven Shots the other day. Still, with the pads coming on tomorrow, the intensity will be ramped up, meaning Pickett will have to elevate his game against a stingy defense and show that he can more consistently deliver this season for Pittsburgh.
