The Pittsburgh Steelers pulled out another victory in Los Angeles Sunday against the Rams, winning 24-17 to go to 4-2 on the season. The victory takes head coach Mike Tomlin to 14-3 all-time after the team’s bye week as the Steelers get a much-needed win after heading into their bye week looking sluggish on offense while bleeding yards and points to opposing offenses.
While Pittsburgh looked better offensively in this contest, it again took an entire half to get going on that side of the ball, scoring three touchdowns all in the second half. Their first touchdown came early in the third quarter after a big T.J. Watt interception set up Pittsburgh in great position in Rams’ territory, something that former Steelers’ DL Chris Hoke points out has been bailing out the offense and QB Kenny Pickett specifically as he continues to start games slow.
“It’s not about how you start, it’s how you finish but the Steelers can’t rely on T.J. Watt and Alex Highsmith making a play every single week,” Hoke said on KDKA TV’s Extra Point postgame show. “When they don’t make those plays, what happens to them is what happened to them down in Houston against the Texans.”
Watt’s interception set up Pittsburgh well as a favorite for Defensive Player of the Year this season made yet another game-changing play to help turn the tide of the game for the Steelers. He and Highsmith have come up big in Pittsburgh’s wins, making impact plays in the form of sacks, interceptions, and fumble recoveries returned for touchdowns to take the ball away, set the offense up with good field position, or put points on the board themselves. The way Hoke sees it, more responsibility should fall on Pickett to start fast and not rely on heroic performances from Watt and the defense to keep this team in games until he gets things going.
“Kenny Pickett’s a streaky quarterback. There is some kind of impact play and all of the sudden he comes alive,” Hoke said. “Since he’s been the starter, he’s struggled mostly at the start of games until the third or fourth quarter and then all of the sudden he gets hot and starts to make throws. That’s what he did in this game. After that 39-yard catch-and-run by Diontae Johnson, then he started to see the field. Kenny started hitting people, 10 yards here, 11 yards here. 18 yards here. They scored 14 points and it just energized this time. Just think if Kenny can see the field like he does in the fourth quarter in the first half. It could be a completely different game for these Steelers.”
Hoke isn’t wrong in saying that Pickett has been a streaky quarterback. He does have a tendency to start games slow, making mistakes or missing open reads early. He settles in as the game wears on, having his best performances late in the fourth quarter where he has shown us some clutch moments like in the Steelers’ last game against the Baltimore Ravens.
In baseball, it’s crucial to have a closing pitcher who can come in the final ending and ice the game. However, the quarterback needs to be able to start the game strong and play well in the clutch, not putting his defense in position to have to keep the score down until he can get the offense going. This has been the case for Pickett and Pittsburgh’s offense, knowing that not all the blame falls on Pickett’s shoulders, but he can do a better job of starting games quickly.
We saw a taste of that during the preseason when Pittsburgh’s offense scored at will at the start of contests, getting out to leads early where the defense could pin its ears back and hunt the opposing quarterback. This is what Pickett and the Steelers should strive for as they continue to progress throughout the season. It puts less pressure on the defense to keep the Steelers in games early but rather give them leads to allow this unit to really get after teams, making them a more well-rounded team that can compete with the powerhouses in the AFC.
