On just the third play of the game last Sunday, Pittsburgh Steelers second-year quarterback Kenny Pickett was sacked by San Francisco defensive end Drake Jackson. While being whipped around by Jackson, the back of Pickett’s head hit the turf rather hard, leading to questions coming out of the 30-7 loss if Pickett was dealing with concussion-like symptoms, especially after looking as bad as he did.
According to head coach Mike Tomlin, who spoke to the media Tuesday ahead of the Week Two matchup against the Cleveland Browns, there were no concerns regarding a concussion or concussion-like symptoms for the Steelers’ medical staff and the independent observer. Nor were any concerns expressed from Pickett himself following the sack, Tomlin said.
“Level of banged up, I’m not certain of. There’s so many protocols in place now, independent medical specialists and so forth, I would imagine that the quarterback position has less of my eyes directly than it used to because of it. I didn’t have direct eyes on it, but obviously I saw it after,” Tomlin told reporters, according to video via the Steelers YouTube page. “There was no hesitancy from the independent medical experts and so forth. He didn’t express any symptoms relative to that play, so it was a non-discussion for us.”
The sack from Jackson was a bit reminiscent to the one that Pickett took last season at home against the Baltimore Ravens and linebacker Roquan Smith, which knocked him out of that matchup. That was Pickett’s second concussion of the season as he suffered one earlier in the season on a hit from Tampa Bay linebacker Devin White.
Following the concussion against the Ravens, Pickett switched to a new helmet — the VICIS ZERO2 — which is designed to reduce concussions for quarterbacks, specially to protect against blows the back of the head.
Pickett switched to the helmet late last season and worked with the helmet all offseason.
Though his head hit the turf rather hard on the first sack, the helmet seemingly did its job, which is a great sign.
With Pickett not expressing any concerns from the hit and being cleared by both the Steelers’ medical staff and the independent observer, it feels rather safe to put the discussion of a possible concussion for Pickett to rest. It certainly was a hard hit to the back of the head, and it’s never a play you want to see happen to any quarterback, but protocols are in place for a reason.
As Tomlin stated, it’s a non-discussion for the Steelers moving forward. It happened, Pickett showed no effects from the hit, the helmet did its job, period.
