It has not been a good start to the 2023 season for second-year Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Kenny Pickett.
He’s missed some throws he made quite a bit last season and has generally looked rather unsure of himself and uncomfortable behind an offensive line that is allowing far too much pressure in an offense that has been largely one-dimensional this season.
Though some of that changed in Week Three against the Las Vegas Raiders with Pickett standing in and taking some big hits in the pocket and the offense showing signs of life in the run game and off play-action, the second-year signal caller remains ranked near the bottom of the league in the latest QB Power Rankings from CBS Sports’ Cody Benjamin.
On Wednesday, Pickett came in at No. 27 overall in the QB Power Rankings, ahead of only names like Chicago’s Justin Fields, Tennessee’s Ryan Tannehill and New York’s Zach Wilson. Cincinnati’s Joe Burrow was behind Pickett, too, but that’s more due to the injury he’s playing through than anything.
“He got the job done against the Raiders in prime time, which is about all Mike Tomlin could have asked,” Benjamin writes regarding Pickett for CBSSports.com. “You just hope, for the Steelers’ sake, that things don’t always look so difficult. Fifteen starts in, he’s still struggling to complete half of his passes.”
Pickett got the job done in sound fashion on Sunday Night Football against Raiders on the road. He completed 16-of-28 passes for 235 yards and two touchdowns, connecting with Calvin Austin III on a 72-yard touchdown in the first quarter. He later hit Pat Freiermuth on a 13-yard touchdown off play-action on a bootleg, showing just how good the offense can be when it’s diverse and mixing things up on the call sheet.
Though things started a bit rough with Pickett bailing from clean pockets and narrowly missing a pick-six from Raiders cornerback Marcus Peters, Pickett settled in nicely and managed the game well, recording his first multi-touchdown game through the air in the process.
Issues still remain though for the young quarterback. He missed a couple of throws under duress that he would have hit as a rookie, and the offense stalled out in the fourth quarter, allowing the Raiders to get back into the game before the defense put it away — again.
While Sunday night’s performance was an encouraging step in the right direction, more progress is needed. Oh, and the completion percentage is just fine for Pickett. In 16 games (15 starts) he’s sitting at 62.3 completion percentage.
