There’s a lot of confidence among the Pittsburgh Steelers’ offense after an impressive preseason where the first-team offense scored a touchdown on all five drives they played. QB Kenny Pickett talked today about what that level of confidence can do for an offense.
“I think just everyone’s just playing a step faster. When you’re confident, you know what you’re doing, you know your assignments, you know what everything is, you’re just, when people talk about playing fast, that’s what it is. It’s everyone a hundred percent knows their job and they’re out there playing free and doing what they do best. So that’s where we wanna get to,” Pickett said via Steelers.com
Having confidence is one of the biggest keys to having success in football. Playing fast and playing confident is something that’s going to help the Steelers’ offense find that extra gear they need to take the jump they’ll need. Pittsburgh’s offense wasn’t good last season, and for the team to have success in 2023, they’re going to need to be better.
They showed they could be explosive in the preseason, and that has to carry over into the regular season. The AFC is incredibly difficult, particularly the AFC North, and the Steelers are going to have to be a top-15 team on both sides of the ball if they want to make the playoffs and make some noise this season. With George Pickens and Diontae Johnson on the outside and Allen Robinson II in the slot, Pickett is going to have the weapons around him to succeed in the passing game. Isaac Seumalo was signed this offseason to anchor the offense line, and that should help out Pickett and both RBs Najee Harris and Jaylen Warren.
The San Francisco 49ers, Pittsburgh’s Week One opponent, have one of the best defenses in the league. But going into that matchup with confidence is going to be important for the Steelers, and it sounds like they are. Knowing their job and what their role is will be key to scoring on one of the most imposing units in the league, and Pickett seems to think that’s going to be the case.
It should be one of the better Week One matchups, and it’s going to be interesting to see how the Steelers’ offense looks after their impressive preseason. The 49ers’ defense is going to be one of the biggest tests they’ll face all season, and if they look good, that’ll bring a lot more confidence for the rest of the season.
