Pittsburgh Steelers QB Kenny Pickett only played one series in the team’s 27-17 victory over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers Friday night, but he certainly made it count. He was 6-of-7 passing for 70 yards and capped the drive off with a touchdown to WR George Pickens. In all, it was a largely perfect opening drive of the preseason.
However, when Pickett spoke with Missi Matthews of Steelers.com during the game, he already knew what he wanted to work on once the team returned to training camp at Saint Vincent College in Latrobe, PA.
“There was a blitz that I checked down to Najee [Harris] quickly that I think we can get ironed out with the o-line, my read, what we want to do with it,” Pickett told Matthews. “That’s something I’m definitely going to be looking into quickly.”
The issue occurred on the Steelers’ third play of the drive. Pickett lined up in the shotgun with RB Najee Harris lined up to his left. Prior to the snap, WR Allen Robinson II was lined up to the right of the formation, and Pickett brought him in motion to the left before Robinson returned to his original spot. At the snap, C Mason Cole moved to his right while LG Isaac Seumalo initially blocked Tampa Bay DT Deadrin Senat. That left the blitzing LB K.J. Britt an open lane to Pickett.
Seumalo did quickly pass Senat off to LT Dan Moore Jr. and picked up the blitzing Britt, but by that time, Pickett had already shifted to his left and dumped the ball off to Harris in the left flat for a one-yard loss. A one-yard loss is far from a disastrous play on first down when the line of scrimmage is your own 31, but it’s far from a clean, quality play.
What might further frustrate Pickett and the offense as a whole is that Robinson got a free release and was able to settle into a soft spot in the defense. There’s no telling just how big of a play the offense could have mustered, but explosive plays have been a focus for the Steelers during training camp.
The pre-snap motion appears to have gotten Pittsburgh an advantageous look with Robinson, but the initially-unblocked blitzer sped Pickett’s timing up. Could he have stood in there and made a play? Potentially. However, the Steelers need to strike a balance between searching for the big play and taking unnecessary risks. Evidently, at that exact moment, Pickett felt the need to not take an unnecessary risk.
There’s no real argument that Pickett did anything wrong on the play. He made the best decision to protect himself, the ball, and the drive. Yet he feels like the offense could have been much more successful on that play, and it’s easy to see why he would feel that way. That does not take away from the overall quite successful drive he engineered, though. If he and the entire offense can perform like that regularly, it should be a successful season for him.
