The 2023 season marks the first for QB Kenny Pickett as the full-time starter after beginning his rookie year as a backup. While he played for most of the season anyway, the offense was not built around him the way it has been this offseason, with all preparation emphasizing his preferences.
And yet there are still questions about just how much authority he has, particularly in-game on the field. Asked yesterday about some runs against fronts with five down linemen the past two weeks and Pickett’s freedom to check out of those calls, head coach Mike Tomlin gave an answer that I think can be fairly described as interesting.
“It depends on week to week. Why would we have Kenny do it when we know there’s five down linemen in the game?”, he said, via the team’s website, which seems to indicate a preference here that they run the play called because they know the variables. “So it’s not a player decision, it’s a coaching decision”.
“You see the defensive personnel that comes onto the field as you’re making calls”, Tomlin continued. “Different plans week to week on whether we choose to run pass check or run check or just to run it, to be quite honest with you. But I promise you it’s not haphazard. There’s always an agenda there”.
Truth be told, I’m not entirely sure why there might be different plans on a weekly basis for how much authority Pickett has to call audibles and change the play at the line. I have to assume he is referring to the amount of play calls that have built-in checks, because generally, I would think that authority varies more by in-game scenario than by opponent.
Last year, TE Pat Freiermuth sparked a little controversy when he suggested that the Steelers didn’t really have hot routes when Pickett was in the lineup, contrasting it to his rookie season with 18-year veteran Ben Roethlisberger under center. He later walked that back or tried to clarify.
The Steelers were actively working with Pickett on calling audibles during training camp. At the time, he told reporters that they were available to him last year but added that he now has more control over it and more comfort doing it.
Three weeks into the year, however, and especially in light of Tomlin’s remark, one does wonder just how much authority he might have to check out of a play. It would be understandable for a second-year player to have less control than an 18-year veteran with two Super Bowl rings, but are they still operating with the training wheels on?
