In today’s NFL, which is a wide-open style of football, to compete for a Lombardi Trophy you have to have a high-scoring offense with a franchise-level quarterback who can light up opposing defenses.
For former NFL GM Mike Tannenbaum, he doesn’t believe that Pittsburgh Steelers second-year quarterback Kenny Pickett has the ability to do that. With that, Tannenbaum believes there’s no hope for the Steelers to make the playoffs in 2023, too.
“Despite Mike Tomlin’s greatness, Kenny Pickett really struggled getting the ball downfield; he was second-worst in yards per passing attempt. He has some really good receivers in Diontae Johnson, George Pickens, they picked up Allen Robinson, but when you’re going against Lamar Jackson and Joe Burrow every week, you’ve gotta be able to score points in chunks, and I don’t think Kenny Pickett has that ability,” Tannenbaum said on ESPN’s Get Up Monday, according to video via Get Up.
Pickett continues to be much of the focus in the offseason for the Steelers and rightfully so as a lot rides on him entering his first full season as a starter in 2023. If he takes a sizable step forward, so too will the Steelers’ offense. If not, it could be more of the same this season on the offensive side of the ball for the Black and Gold, which struggled to score points last season, was a bit of a mess in the red zone and really lacked splash plays.
Entering Year Two, the expectations are rather high for Pickett, considering the work that the Steelers did in the offseason under GM Omar Khan, adding pieces along the offensive line and bringing in Robinson to shore up the wide receiver depth chart.
Those expectations are also high due to the flashes that Pickett showed down the stretch in the second half of the season, helping the Steelers go 7-2 in the second half to finish 9-8, narrowly missing the playoffs. But, when it comes to Pickett and the questions about him, they always seemingly come back to his stat line from his rookie season.
Pickett threw for just 2,404 yards and had seven touchdowns to nine interceptions as a rookie. He added another 237 rushing yards and three touchdowns on 55 carries. Those numbers, on the surface, aren’t all that impressive. But here are some numbers that are for Pickett: 7-5 as a starter, four game-winning drives and three fourth-quarter comebacks.
The average yards per attempt were low, but that doesn’t mean Pickett struggled to push the ball down the field, either. According to Pro Football Focus’ QB Annual, which breaks down every quarterback in the NFL in a number of metrics, Pickett was the sixth-best quarterback last season when throwing outside of the numbers.
The success was there overall, especially outside the numbers when throwing beyond 20 yards. The problem was, it was rarely called by offensive coordinator Matt Canada as he seemingly tried to protect Pickett from mistakes and keep the Steelers in games.
Entering 2023, the Steelers very clearly want to run the football and play great defense, winning low-scoring games. That doesn’t mean Pickett can’t play in a shootout style, if needed. He’s pretty good already at ad-libbing and playing out of structure and creating on his own and showed real flashes down the stretch in his rookie season.
The style of football the Steelers are aiming to play in 2023 might not be flashy and match what other teams in the NFL are trying to do, but it doesn’t mean they can’t win and can’t make the playoffs like Tannenbaum tries to make the case for, pinning it on Pickett.
