The Pittsburgh Steelers looked like a preseason team playing a team in regular-season mode today in their home-opening 30-7 loss to the San Francisco 49ers. And they didn’t look like their own preseason selves. That was true of second-year QB Kenny Pickett more than any other player on the field.
While he finished the game 31-for-46 throwing (67.4 percent) for 232 yards and a touchdown pass, he also threw two interceptions and should have had a third that 49ers ILB Fred Warner dropped. All day he struggled with his accuracy, outside of the lovely touchdown throw to TE Pat Freiermuth. And it was obvious to all watching.
“He panicked and forced the ball into places he shouldn’t have”, NFL analyst and former Steelers DL Chris Hoke said on KDKA’s post-game show. “This happened over and over and over again. I think that frustration grew stronger and stronger and he struggled to get that under control. It’s something we’re not used to with Kenny. He’s very collected. He’s very good at keeping these emotions in check and today, it got the best of him”.
Initial impressions of the game leave me in agreement with this assessment. While it’s hard to point to any one moment where Pickett clearly looked flustered, the performance speaks for itself. In comparison to the precision of his ball placement during preseason games—in similarly tight windows—it was like a different player on the field as often as not.
While the 49ers did him no favors by applying quality pressure for much of the afternoon, translating into five sacks and four additional quarterback hits, much of Pickett’s struggles can only be attributed to himself.
And it stands out even more on an afternoon in which he was facing the last player drafted in 2022, himself the first quarterback taken in the draft. “Brock Purdy was the exact opposite of what Kenny Pickett was today”, Hoke argued. “Kenny Pickett panicked, he had jittery feet, he could not sit still in that in the pocket and Brock Purdy was cool, calm, and collected.”
Purdy went 19-for-29 (65.5 percent) for 220 yards with two touchdowns and zero interceptions. He was sacked three times, all by OLB T.J. Watt, who in the process tied the Steelers’ career sack record, now at 80.5 in 88 games played.
This is not the Pickett we were promised making a second-year jump. But the good news is, it’s just one game. We’ve seen him look a lot better than this. And we will see him look a lot better than this. Hopefully next week, of course.
The Steelers did not even register a first down until 28 minutes into the game, going three-and-out five straight times, one of those drives ending in an interception. The final drive of the first half was by far their best, a 12-play, 95-yard touchdown march that produced their only points in the loss.
Yes, Pickett and the Steelers did not look good today. Their body language and composure were not consistently great, either. It almost seemed as though they were unprepared for this adversity, confident in their quality after having a good offseason. “Nobody anticipated this kind of game and getting pushed around and manhandled like the Steelers did”, Hoke said.
But they will bounce back from it. Pickett will bounce back from it. Until he does, the detractors will be out in full force, convinced as ever that he just doesn’t have what it takes to be a franchise quarterback. And today, they may be winning the argument.
