After a stellar preseason that had nearly everyone hopping on the Pittsburgh Steelers’ bandwagon, QB Kenny Pickett did not have a stellar start to the 2023 NFL season. In the 30-7 loss to the San Francisco 49ers last Sunday, Pickett completed 31-of-46 passes for 232 yards, one touchdown, and two interceptions. He was also sacked five times.
When NFL.com’s Nick Shook posted his NFL QB Index on Thursday, he dropped Pickett five spots down to 28th in the league. That put him just above Tennessee Titans QB Ryan Tannehill and just behind Carolina Panthers rookie QB Bryce Young.
“After a strong showing in the preparatory period, Pickett regressed to a version that had Steelers fans concerned in the first half of last season,” Shook wrote. “It didn’t help that San Francisco dug Pittsburgh into a deep deficit incredibly quickly, forcing Pickett to throw 46 passes behind an offensive line that certainly didn’t live up to expectations. Pickett didn’t do much to aid his cause, either. His attempt to throw Diontae Johnson open resulted in an interception, and his second pick — a bullet fired into double coverage — was even worse.”
Now there was certainly a lot that went wrong in Week One for the Steelers. As Shook notes, the offensive line, especially LT Dan Moore Jr., wasn’t what everyone hoped it to be. Against a defense as fearsome as San Fransico’s, having a struggling offensive line is not a recipe for success regardless of what quarterback is lining up under center.
Then you factor in some of the self-inflicted wounds, like what WR George Pickens said about how the offense prepared to face a different coverage than what the players saw in-game. The offense went three-and-out in each of its first five drives last Sunday. Whether that was due to the coverages they saw or the play calling, there were certainly offensive problems galore.
Then you factor in that Pittsburgh was unable to get any semblance of the run game going as there were only 10 rushes in the game, partially due to the game state. Najee Harris carried the ball six times for 31 yards (and 24 of those yards came on one run), Jaylen Warren had three carries for six yards, and Pickett registered one rush for four yards.
However, not all hope is lost for Pickett. Shook did deliver some good news to Steelers fans about Pickett’s performance last Sunday. When Pickett was able to get rid of the ball in less than 2.5 seconds, he had a passer rating of 114.6 and threw a short touchdown pass to TE Pat Freiermuth, accounting for the Steelers’ only score of the game. His performance was considerably worse when he held onto the ball for over 2.5 seconds as his rating dipped to 49.3.
Steelers Depot’s very own Josh Carney dropped this tidbit about Pickett’s performance under pressure.
That ties in nicely with how Pickett performed when getting rid of the ball early. So perhaps going forward, especially when DE Myles Garrett and the rest of the Cleveland Browns come to town on Monday night, offensive coordinator Matt Canada may want to scheme up some quick hitters for his young quarterback. Otherwise, the proverbial hounds will continue to come for both coordinator and quarterback.
