Pittsburgh Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin loves the saying “iron sharpens iron” and that’s what seems to be occurring throughout training camp at Saint Vincent College in Latrobe on both sides of the football.
A veteran defense with stars at all three levels against a young, developing offense has made for quite the showdown at times in training camp. For the most part the defense has won the day throughout camp, but the offense has come on strong lately, including on Tuesday, winning seven shots in impressive fashion with a 6-1 mark, according to Steelers Depot’s own Alex Kozora.
That’s a sign of growth, and it has second-year quarterback Kenny Pickett excited about the growth the offense has shown and the amount of success they’re having on that side of the football against a “top-notch defense” in training camp, both from an explosive play perspective and in the red zone — two areas that the Steelers were downright awful in last season.
“I think we’re definitely taking more shots down the field. I think everyone here has seen that. We’re more consistent in the red zone; it’s been great to see how competitive we’ve been in seven shots and win a lot of the drills in the red zone stuff,” Pickett told reporters Tuesday following practice, according to video via the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. “Our defense is top-notch, so when you’re having a little bit of success against them, I hope we’ll fare all right in the season.”
Pickett is right that the Steelers have a top-notch defense. They were one of the best in the NFL last season in the second half when everyone was fully healthy, and they only got better this offseason with some significant additions to the starting lineup and from a depth perspective.
The defense has made it hard on the offense at times in training camp, but if Tuesday’s showing in seven shots is any indication, the Steelers offense is improving — and in a hurry.
Pickett is in full command and is starting to see things really well in that area of the field, which is a significant step up from his performance in the red zone last season.
According to Steelers Depot’s own Clayton Eckert, Pickett’s numbers in the red zone last season were abysmal.
Pickett’s 66.1 Individual Quarterback Rating (IQR) in the regular season ranked dead last among the 33 qualifying quarterbacks. He was one of only two players below 70. A very painful number indeed and gives the struggles comparative context around the NFL. This came on 61 red zone drop backs (16th) and 53 attempts (16th) in 12 games played. Pickett had only five touchdowns, which tied for last with Browns quarterback Deshaun Watson, who played in half as many games as Pickett.
Other important factors to his worst red zone IQR were the six sacks he took (second most) for a 9.8 sack percentage (fifth most), 41.5 completion rate (32nd), 56.8 on target pass percentage (32nd), and an extremely low 9.4 touchdown percentage (last), with the next worst rate coming in at a substantially higher 16.7 percent. A rarely encouraging facet to Pickett’s red zone play in 2022 was only one interception, for a 1.9 interception rate (T-16th).
His play in the red zone, along with creating more explosive plays offensively, are huge points of emphasis for the Steelers entering the 2023 season. That’s why so much work is being done in training camp in the red zone and taking shots down the field. The Steelers, to their credit, have had some success in training camp offensively against a very good defense.
That means something for the young group overall. Iron sharpens iron, and if Pickett and Co. can do it in training camp in live settings, they should be able to do it against other defenses around the league, too.
