For whatever reason, when the clock switches to the fourth quarter for Pittsburgh Steelers second-year quarterback Kenny Pickett, he becomes a completely different quarterback — in a positive way.
That was again the case on Sunday inside SoFi Stadium against the Los Angeles Rams. Entering the fourth quarter, Pickett and the offense were really struggling. Pickett had completed just 10-of-18 passes for 92 yards through the first three quarters of action. The Steelers had just 110 yards of total offense entering the fourth quarter.
Then, the offense came alive.
Pittsburgh racked up 190 yards of total offense and two touchdowns in the fourth quarter, storming back from a 17-1o deficit to pick up a hard-fought 24-17 win over the Rams to move to 4-2 on the season.
In that 190-yard fourth quarter, Pickett was outstanding. The second-year quarterback completed 7-of-7 passes for 138 yards, including explosive plays featuring a 39-yard catch-and-run from Diontae Johnson, a 21-yard completion to George Pickens and a 30-yard strike to Pickens, moving the chains consistently for the Steelers, who started to wear down the Rams’ defense in the run game, too.
They were the bullies offensively and played the style of football they’ve been working towards all season long.
Though the fourth-quarter magic from Pickett is quite impressive and exciting overall, former Steelers defensive lineman Chris Hoke stated on the KDKA Extra Point Show that the Steelers’ young quarterback needs to find the consistency to become a 60-minute man under center.
“Those plays that Matt Canada called in the fourth quarter, he calls throughout the game. It comes down to Kenny seeing the field and stepping up and trusting it and driving the ball in all four quarters, not just the fourth. Those plays are there,” Hoke said to host Bob Pompeani regarding the fourth-quarter outburst from the Steelers, according to video via the Steelers’ YouTube page. “I don’t believe it’s Matt Canada. I believe that Kenny needs to play a more complete game from the first snap to the last.”
Pickett’s complete 180 in the fourth quarter from is nothing new at this point. When the game is on the line, he becomes a completely different quarterback and starts making plays he wasn’t earlier in games. He’s wired a different way, as his personal QB coach Tony Racioppi has stated previously. That’s on display consistently.
But Pickett — and the Steelers — need to find a way to bottle up what he does and how he operates in the fourth quarter and get him to do that from start to finish, rather than needing to play cardiac comeback football time and time again.
There’s a looseness to Pickett’s game in the fourth quarter, and confidence that oozes out of him. Why that’s not there to start the game remains a major question.
“In the fourth quarter, he’s getting the ball out quick with the blitzes, he’s throwing with confidence so he’s got to become a 60-minute man. I don’t know what he’s got to do to tap into that in the first quarter. But I don’t believe that Matt Canada is calling different plays in that fourth quarter than he is in the first quarter,” Hoke added, according to video via the Steelers’ YouTube page. “For one reason or another, Kenny is stepping up with more confidence. He’s throwing the ball, he’s driving it. You go back and look at the film and those guys are open in the first quarter and they’re not being hit.
“The reality is, in that fourth quarter, he’s driving the ball, man. He’s putting the ball where it needs to be but that routes are the same and he’s making those throws. I believe largely if Kenny would see the field in the first quarter like he did in the fourth quarter, it would be a different game.”
Hoke has a point that the game doesn’t change all that much from a play-calling perspective from the Steelers from the first to the fourth quarter. They just had more success on Sunday because Pickett was hitting those throws. There were still back-shoulder throws to Pickens, quick outs and whip routes from Johnson, a delayed release from tight end Connor Heyward and a slant from Allen Robinson II.
It seems all the same at face value, but Pickett is just letting it rip and trusting what he’s seeing and his ability to make every throw necessary.
He’s still a young quarterback finding his game in the NFL. But the fourth-quarter performances are tantalizing. If he can become that type of quarterback for more than just the fourth quarter and work towards a full game, look out.
