Of the Pittsburgh Steelers’ 31 pass attempts during the preseason opener last Friday, nine were between the numbers beyond the line of scrimmage. That included two of QB Kenny Pickett’s seven pass attempts, completing both for 39 combined yards, including WR George Pickens’ 33-yard catch-and-run for a touchdown to end the opening drive.
Mason Rudolph also had success throwing over the middle, going 3-for-3 for 30 yards. Many different players worked the middle of the field, including TE Pat Freiermuth, who revealed something I think fans will be pretty happy about.
“The middle of the field’s gonna be big for us”, he told Chris Mack for 93.7 The Fan yesterday. “We’ve got two of the best receivers in the league with [George Pickens] and [Diontae Johnson] on the outside, and hopefully me and Allen [Robinson II] and Darnell [Washington] and Connor [Heyward] can work the middle of that field, and then interchange those roles. I’m excited”.
Fans have been clamoring for the Steelers to make use of the middle of the field more in recent years, beginning in the latter stages of QB Ben Roethlisberger’s career. They do seem to be on the path of doing that, and for many different reasons.
One would imagine that it’s something Pickett is more comfortable doing, for one thing. They also have a lot of players who can play over the middle, as Freiermuth listed, and that includes Pickens as he continues to expand his route tree with more in-breaking patterns.
Freiermuth, of course, was a big part of that area for the Steelers last year, catching 32 passes over the middle beyond the line of scrimmage in 2022. He caught 21 of 27 targets over the middle up to 10 yards through the air, adding another seven catches between 10 and 20 yards and four beyond 20, accounting for 390 yards and two touchdowns.
But that still wasn’t a huge part of Pickett’s game last year, even if it was more than under Roethlisberger in his final season or two. He still threw overwhelmingly outside the numbers with 144 attempts in between, of which 23 were behind the line of scrimmage and another 80 up to 10 yards beyond the line.
He only attempted 41 passes over the middle of 10-plus air yards, completing 19 for 375 yards with three touchdowns and three interceptions. In other words, there is still a lot of meat on that bone, and according to Freiermuth, they’re not going to let it go to waste this year.
