After the celebration of Kenny Pickett’s game-winning 41-yard touchdown to WR George Pickens, there’s been a ton of attention paid to how the play unfolded. Maybe more so than the actual play itself.
Everything from Pickett’s “Randy” call to OC Matt Canada’s non-reaction to the score, at least as captured by the CBS crew, has been under scrutiny and debate.
Speaking to reporters Wednesday, Pickett explained what he changed at the line prior to throwing a dime to Pickens.
“It was the protection and the route,” Pickett said via a team-provided transcript about the changes he made on the play. “They went zero, so I made sure we were protected, then gave George his route. He went and made a great play. It’s something that we worked all week on.”
The “Randy” call picked up by the broadcast’s microphones almost certainly refers to the slide protection. Those changes are often associated by “L” and “R” words. For example, “Lucy” could mean left and “Ringo” could mean right. With the Ravens sending an all-out Cover Zero blitz, Pickett slid the protection to the right and RB Jaylen Warren opposite to pick it up.
It’s a call and shift he made earlier in the game, too.
So what about Pickens’ route? It’s harder to say when that change was made. As Dave Bryan pointed out, it appears Pickett puts down a finger to signal “one” to Pickens pre-snap. That could have been his clue to run a vertical route, knowing Pickens would have one-on-one coverage with CB Marlon Humphrey and zero safety help over the top.
The line blocked, Pickett threw a great ball and Pickens got separation at the top of his route to finish the play and put the ball into the end zone. Everything else is just a little less interesting.
The Internet continues to debate if Canada was upset about Pickett changing the play, that being the reason for his non-reaction, but Pickett clearly has the freedom and the non-verbal cues to change routes. Meaning, it’s elements Canada and the Steelers have put into the offseason so there’s no reason he would be mad about them, something Pickett alluded to when he said the team worked on it in practice. Sending a guy like Pickens vertically against Zero coverage is the correct decision and the play worked.
In reality, Canada didn’t react either because he was immediately thinking about the team’s two-point play (or perhaps listening or looking for the signal of whether the Steelers were going to go for two) or perhaps he just had a super delayed reaction to the moment. Maybe he was checking for flags or just took a second to process it. It did seem like Canada was moving and reacting just as the CBS crew cut away from him. And even if Canada was caught off-guard by the route, there’s no evidence he was mad about it.
People can debate the particulars all they want. Normally, I’m right there with them. But in the moment, to win a game the Steelers really needed to have, I’m just going to enjoy a touchdown. Those have been pretty rare to start the season and certainly need to be more frequent post bye.
