If there’s one thing the Pittsburgh Steelers’ offense is looking to accomplish in 2023, it’s more explosive plays. A year after being a hyper-conservative offense that embraced punts and avoided turnovers, making a serious playoff run this season will require a different approach.
Discussing the Steelers’ offensive outlook, NBC Sports’ Mike Florio and Chris Simms went into a deep-dive on Pickett. For Florio, he wants to see Pickett look George Pickens’ way even more this year.
“Pickett had 47 throws of 20 or more yards down the field,” Florio told Simms. “Third-fewest behind Dak Prescott and Kyler Murray. This is quarterbacks who took at least 50-percent of the snaps and Pickett had 12 percent of his passes go 20 yards or longer. Mitch Trubisky had 17 percent during the time that he was playing. So get the ball down the field, get it to George Pickens. That’s what I wanna see.”
In 2022, Pittsburgh had just 44 completions of 20-plus yards, tied for just 23rd in the NFL. Part of that was by design. After giving the game away far too often in the first half of the year, self-inflicted wounds with interception, penalties, and generally sloppy play, the Steelers’ goal after the bye was not lose the game before winning it. Meaning, play clean, take care of the football, and they’d be in position to win. The plan worked, Pittsburgh going 7-2 down the stretch, and Pickett threw only one interception from Week 10 and on.
While the offense played things safe, similar to Ben Roethlisberger’s last season, Pickett loved taking his 1v1 shots down the sideline. With a penchant for the back-shoulder throw, Pickett looked Pickens’ way against single-high coverage all the time, perhaps too much, so Florio’s point here, even if true in overall statistics, applies less so when it comes to targeting Pickens. Pickens was responsible for 38.6 percent of the team’s 20-plus yard completions last season. He had 17 such grabs, no other Steeler hit double-digits and the next closest wide receiver was Diontae Johnson’s seven (TE Pat Freiermuth had nine).
Now that Pickett, Pickens, and other key pieces are in their second year with the team, the Steelers’ offense should open things up. Pickens has impressed this summer not just with his highlight reel catches, though he’s still capable of making those, but with his ability to win from all levels of the field. Frankly, he hasn’t made too many downfield catches in the 11 v 11 periods. Instead, he’s done his damage over the middle of the field on digs, crossers, and curls, all signs of a second-year player rounding out the edges in his game.
Johnson has enjoyed a strong summer that’s been overshadowed by Pickens’ development and ability to make the ridiculous look routine. Pickett’s looked his way more often over the past week and during the team’s stretch of six straight practices, Johnson had only one incompletion thrown his way. And that came on a drop, not a poor throw.
Pittsburgh won’t have the NFL’s most prolific offense this season. But it can, should, and needs to be better than what it’s been the past two years. On paper, the personnel looks good. If Matt Canada’s gameplan can match, Pickett will be hitting Pickens downfield, over the middle, and to every corner of the field. And the Steelers’ offense will see a big jump in play.
