The Steelers are now back at the UPMC Rooney Sports Complex, facing down a long regular season that looks a lot more promising given how things have gone leading up to it. Finishing just above .500 last year, they anticipate being able to compete with any team in the league this season with second-year QB Kenny Pickett leading the way.
They’ve done a great deal to address what they identified as their shortcomings during the offseason, which included addressing the offensive and defensive lines as well as the secondary and the inside linebacker room, which is nearly entirely different from last year. The results have been positive so far.
Even well into the regular season and beyond, there are going to be plenty of questions that need answered. When will the core rookies get to play, or even start? Is the depth sufficient where they upgraded? Can they stand toe-to-toe with the Bengals and the other top teams in the league? We’ll try to frame the conversation in relevant ways as long as you stick with us throughout the season, as we have for many years.
Question: Can WR George Pickens go off two weeks in a row?
Though even on its own it wouldn’t have been enough, the Steelers very much needed WR George Pickens’ performance in their 26-22 win over the Cleveland Browns last Monday night. Of course, a 71-yard touchdown always comes in handy no matter the circumstances, but he had a productive game even outside of that, with another three catches for 56 yards.
One could argue that it was the best game thus far of his young career, and the first in which he was the featured wide receiver with Diontae Johnson sidelined due to a hamstring injury. But it wasn’t just the absence of Johnson that led to his career-high 10 targets. It had just as much to do with his improved route running and the way the Steelers used him on more varied routes.
Now that he is rounding out his game and becoming a more complete receiver, making him more frequently accessible on any given pass play, we should see more consistency in production. That doesn’t mean 100-plus yards and a touchdown every week, although that seems to be what is expected.
So why not? Can he have a similar game against the Las Vegas Raiders as he had against the Browns? I mean, of course he can, but what are the odds that he will? Cleveland has arguably the better defense than Las Vegas, even with Maxx Crosby playing for the latter, but I don’t think anybody is losing sleep over the Raiders’ secondary.
Johnson isn’t going to be back this week, and the Steelers still haven’t gotten their tight ends very much involved in the passing game. On paper, this should be another game in which Pickens is set up to see plenty of targets. The Raiders are in the bottom half of the league in yards allowed after the catch as well, so if the Steelers can get Pickens in space, he showed last week and in the preseason that he can do some damage.
