Colin Cowherd may seem to have a bit of a love/hate relationship with the current iteration of the Pittsburgh Steelers. After all, he categorically dismissed their chances of winning a Super Bowl this season at least in part because of the murderer’s row of AFC quarterbacks. It comes down to how he feels about QB Kenny Pickett, essentially. Cowherd thinks Pickett will likely be a good and successful quarterback but not a great quarterback.
However, it seems that Pickett and the Steelers are a hot topic among everyone, including Cowherd and his co-host Jason McIntyre on the Herd With Colin Cowherd Tuesday. For Cowherd, he was (perhaps) uncharacteristically positive, saying “I’m really looking forward to this team.”
McIntyre evidently feels the same, taking the time to highlight some of what he’s excited about.
“Pickens, of course, is the dude this year,” McIntyre said. “I like him a lot. I like Pickett.”
It’s no secret that a lot of people around the NFL are excited to see just how good second-year WR George Pickens will be after showing off his incredible contested-catch ability in his rookie season as well as in training camp.
As for Cowherd, he couldn’t resist making the discussion about the media as a whole and himself. Yet, it still is positive about the Steelers and perhaps should soften some of the vitriol that is frequently directed his way from Steelers Nation.
“It’s good for our business if the Steelers are in the AFC Championship game,” Cowherd said. “It’s been a long time. We need more Steelers playoff wins.”
Both co-hosts seem to be big fans of the work that general manager Omar Khan has done in the offseason in terms of building on the foundation that his predecessor Kevin Colbert made.
“I think we both agree, their roster is stacked,” Cowherd said. “It’s a little like San Francisco. On the defensive side, there’s stars in every unit. They are really loaded.”
It’s easy to see the talent on the Steelers roster, both in terms of players who have been here and the new faces who joined this offseason. As Cowherd said, there are stars in both the front seven with DT Cameron Heyward and LB T.J. Watt as well as in the secondary led by S Minkah Fitzpatrick. Then there are the veteran additions of CBs Patrick Peterson and Desmond King II as well as second-round rookie Joey Porter Jr.
On the offensive side of the ball, there’s the big addition of veteran G Isaac Seumalo as well as rookie TE Darnell Washington. However, the biggest key to the offense’s success, and the team’s overall success, is how much Pickett improves in his second year. His performance in training camp was quite good and he was essentially perfect (by both passer rating and results) in his five preseason drives.
While Cowherd might think that the Steelers have no shot at a title this season, McIntyre is quite confident that at the end of the season, they will have had a good season, saying, “I don’t even think there’s ‘bustability’ with Pittsburgh.”
Whether there are playoff wins coming, an AFC title game appearance even, only time will tell. That just means that Week One (and the following 17 weeks) can’t get here soon enough so we can stop predicting and start enjoying real football.
