On the Pittsburgh Steelers’ opening drive of their 24-0 win over the Atlanta Falcons in their preseason finale, QB Kenny Pickett hit both WR Diontae Johnson and WR George Pickens for explosive-play receptions. On a third down early in the drive, Pickett went down the left sideline for a 33-yard completion to Johnson. Later in the drive he hit Pickens for a 35-yard gain down to the 1-yard line to set up a Najee Harris rushing touchdown. In his postgame press conference, Pickett said he’s always going to try to exploit defenses when Johnson and Pickens are in single coverage.
“Just seeing those guys one-on-one, I’m gonna always give them a chance. They’re both great players, really talented guys, so I want to make sure that I do my part and put the ball out there for them and then they do the rest,” Pickett said via the Steelers’ Twitter account.
Pickett finished the game a perfect 4-of-4 for 86 yards, with those two completions making up the bulk of his day. Both Johnson and Pickens have the potential to be 1,000-yard receivers for the Steelers and connecting with Pickett on explosive receptions will certainly aid that cause.
Pickens in particular has been a star this preseason, but he’ll still likely slot in as the team’s No. 2 wide receiver behind Johnson. While Johnson had a down year by his standards last season, with zero touchdowns on the year, he’s a prime candidate to bounce-back, especially with Pickett looking like he’s going to take a leap in his sophomore season.
Both receivers are immensely talented, and it’s wise by Pickett to target them when they’re in single coverage. While going up against the Falcons’ backups isn’t the best test, it’s good to see that they delivered when called upon and were able to be key facilitators in what ended up being a scoring drive.
Those types of plays are what the Steelers will need out of Johnson and Pickens this year, and both of them are sure to see a high volume of targets from Pickett. There are a lot of mouths to feed in Pittsburgh’s offense, with TE Pat Freiermuth and WR Allen Robinson II in the fold, as well as WR Calvin Austin III and both RBs Jaylen Warren and Najee Harris, who will be weapons in the passing game. But Pickens and Johnson will be the team’s top two targets and seeing them both make big plays tonight gives a lot of confidence heading into Week One.
With the Steelers offense looking to take the next step this season, Pickens and Johnson could emerge as one of the best receiver duos in the NFL.
