Ryan Shazier has been effusive in his praise for the Pittsburgh Steelers this offseason, and that continued today during an appearance on Up And Adams. Shazier told host Kay Adams why he thinks the Steelers are “being slept” on in 2023.
“I think the reason that they’re slept on is because for the last 20 years they’ve had a staple in Ben Roethlisberger. So with them having Ben Roethlisberger, everybody knew, hey, Ben would do anything when it comes to winning. And Coach Tomlin would do the same thing,” Shazier said. “But what people fail to realize is what Kenny Pickett has achieved compared to a lot of other quarterbacks that are now in the National Football League. Kenny Pickett has won. And I’m not trying to pull up college stuff, but Kenny Pickett won the ACC when nobody in the world thought Pitt was gonna win the ACC. So that kind of showed me that, hey, he understands how to win games. But then also with him, I don’t think it’s about all the accolades, I think it’s about just getting the win.”
You can’t correlate college performance to NFL performance, but the winning mindset that Pickett brings to the team is something that’s been widely talked about in the Steelers organization. Pickett is someone who wants to be the best and just wants to win, and the individual accolades don’t matter.
It’s what you need to see out of a quarterback, and the fact that his desire to win has been recognized at every level of the organization, including general manager Omar Khan, tells you all you need to know in that regard.
While the Steelers have been somewhat slept on the majority of the offseason, that’s changed a bit after their first two preseason performances. Jonathan Heitritter even wrote that we need to slow down some of the hype the Steelers offense has been getting. It’s a unit that will be better than last year, but it might not necessarily reach the top-five or maybe even top-10 levels that some of their other AFC foes will.
But Pittsburgh’s defense is going to help set the team apart, and the defense is going to help the offense out by forcing turnovers and potentially giving them shorter fields. And it’s not just in college where Pickett has proven he can win.
While the numbers on paper may not have been super pretty, he only threw one interception and led the team to a winning record down the stretch last season. He did what he needed as a game manager to help win the game, and then turned it on in the clutch, leading game-winning drives in the final minute against the Las Vegas Raiders and Baltimore Ravens in back-to-back weeks.
He’s proven he can be a winner in the NFL, and with an improved offensive line and pieces like Allen Robinson II and Darnell Washington added, there’s a lot more this offense can do through the air and on the ground. I think both Najee Harris and Jaylen Warren will be better in 2023, and the Steelers should have a ground game that’s among the top half of the league.
Whether the Steelers are slept on or not, the expectation of winning games in the postseason remains the same. Pickett can show this year that he can be the guy to help lead them to their first playoff win since 2016, and with his mentality, it wouldn’t be a surprise if he wins more than a few postseason games in Pittsburgh.
