Despite Pittsburgh winning Sunday against the Rams on the road with the offense showing more life after coming off the bye, people are going to find something to complain about.
Former Steelers’ DL Chris Hoke called QB Kenny Pickett a streaky quarterback after the game, stating that the defense must play well to keep the Steelers in the game until Pickett and the offense can turn it on in the fourth quarter and start completing drives and putting points on the board. WR Diontae Johnson was asked about Pickett and his tendency to not have much success in the first half of games but manage to get things going as the game goes on. Johnson answered the question by directing it at the offense as a whole rather than singling out his quarterback for Pittsburgh’s sluggish starts.
“I mean, it’s football,” Johnson said to the media via video from Steelers Live’s Twitter page. “Some games… we ain’t gonna start fast. It’s not gonna be perfect. That’s anybody out there. All we can do is just keep playing in those moments. Something’s gonna happen eventually, and that’s what happened. We were driving the ball, couldn’t get no plays… big plays that we wanted first three quarters and whatnot. We were still making plays though during those three quarters. Like I said, it all came down to those weighty moments and who wanted it most and we showed it that we wanted the most on offense.”
Johnson does a good job defending Pickett with his response above but also was very real and genuine about the state of the Pittsburgh offense. They haven’t been able to start fast in games, outside of a couple of splash plays earlier in the season to WRs George Pickens and Calvin Austin III. That trend continued in this week’s contest against the Rams, the Steelers making a couple of plays in the first half but failing to see real results until the second half when Pittsburgh managed to get three touchdowns on the board.
Pickett must do a better job coming out fast in the beginning of games, not taking the first two to three quarters to settle in and feel comfortable against the opposing defense. However, that needs to be the case for Pittsburgh’s offense as a whole. The running game also took a while to rev up in Los Angeles, aiding Pickett and Pittsburgh with a big surge in the fourth quarter when RBs Najee Harris and Jaylen Warren got going.
The Steelers are known for winning ugly. As head coach Mike Tomlin has said in the past, “Style points don’t matter.” All that matters is winning the game, and Pittsburgh has done that in its last two contests, beating the Ravens and Rams in one-score games late in the fourth quarter. It would do well for fans’ blood pressure if Pittsburgh did better offensively to start games, not having to make things interesting late. However, you want to see your team have resiliency and overcome adversity early in games. That is what the Steelers have done in recent weeks, propelling themselves to 4-2 with a home matchup against the Jacksonville Jaguars on deck next weekend.
