The Pittsburgh Steelers were about as far from an offensive juggernaut in 2022 as you could find in the NFL. So it makes a certain amount of sense that players like QB Kenny Pickett would be overlooked by the larger media community heading into 2023.
However, it’s been no secret that the Steelers have been working on improving the offense across the board during the 2023 offseason as general manager Omar Khan added along the offensive line, at the wide receiver position, and even at tight end.
It’s been the play of Pickett as well as WR George Pickens throughout training camp that has caught observers’ eyes. Then came Week One of the preseason against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers where Pickett went 6-of-7 for 70 yards and a touchdown, a 33-yard pass to Pickens. That was enough for ESPN’s Dan Orlovsky on ESPN NFL Live Tuesday to offer his apologies.
“I think I owe them a little bit of an apology,” Orlovsky said. “After watching preseason Week One and seeing the connection and seeing all that’s been going on in training camp, and seeing some of the clips, you go back and watch their connection last year. If I had to ask all of us, who was, in the NFL, the best QBR-wise, quarterback to pass-catching option, single pass-catching option in the NFL last year? It wasn’t Jalen Hurts and A.J. Brown. It wasn’t Patrick Mahomes and Travis Kelce. It was these two. QBR-wise, it was Kenny Pickett and George Pickens. That is incredible. I understand it’s fewer targets, but it speaks to how impressive that they were when he threw him the football.”
It’s been evident in training camp at Saint Vincent College in Latrobe, Pa. that there has been a focus on building that connection between Pickett and Pickens. The first play of real team drills during camp was an attempted go ball from Pickett to Pickens. Pickett has constantly looked Pickens’ way, and it’s easy to understand why.
Pickens was one of the best wide receivers in the league when it came to contested catches in 2022. That breeds a certain level of confidence as a quarterback. That means that even if the coverage is tighter than you’d like, you know your wide receiver has a darn good chance of grabbing that 50-50 ball. In fact, it’s not 50-50 when it comes to Pickens, it’s darn near 70-30.
In Week One of the preseason, the starting offense only played one drive. Pickett was nearly flawless and only had one incompletion. Frustrations with a single blitz miscue aside, he was in complete control. It wasn’t a lot of time, and he spread the ball around well. He only targeted Pickens once, but Pickens made the most of it, taking a slant pass for the 33-yard touchdown.
While preseason is a different beast than the regular season, there’s no question that the Pickett/Pickens connection looks to only be growing as we head to the start of the 2023 regular season. It’s certainly caught the eye of Orlovsky, enough so that he feels the need to apologize on television.
