Relationships with an organization’s quarterback, especially a hopeful future of the franchise, are critical. As the quarterback goes, so does the rest of the team. For the first time in his tenure, Mike Tomlin is trying to mold a young quarterback to be a long-term fixture of the team. When he was hired in 2007, Ben Roethlisberger was already established, a Super Bowl winner and the obvious long-term answer.
In his weekly interview with Steelers.com’s Bob Labriola, Tomlin explained his relationship with QB Kenny Pickett and how it might differ from other coaches in the league.
“I’ve worked for offensive play-callers like Jon Gruden, and it’s really intimate,” Tomlin told Labriola. “I’m at more of a distance. So really it depends on the expertise or the background of the head coach. It’s not that I’m not close to Kenny and don’t coach him, but not on the minutiae.”
One of the few defensive-minded head coaches in football, Tomlin simply isn’t as involved with the offense as other coaches. As he alludes to, it isn’t that he’s uninvolved but he’s not the main or key game planner or the play caller. Most head coaches in football have an offensive background and many of them serve as the gameday play caller. That creates an especially close relationship with the quarterback.
In Pittsburgh, those closest to Pickett include OC Matt Canada – who once recruited him out of high school – and QBs Coach Mike Sullivan. Those are the coaches who work with him on a daily basis and have been tasked with developing him since the Steelers made Pickett their first-round pick last year.
Instead, Tomlin focuses on a bigger picture with Pickett and deals with the intangibles more than he does the nitty gritty of the position.
“I coach him on leadership things that come with the role, things that he and I need to be responsible for as a head coach and quarterback to make sure that we are aligned,” Tomlin said. “I evaluate communication and intangible things. How he wears the responsibility of being the starting quarterback, and things of that nature, and I leave some of the minutiae to the guys who I employ…”
One of those moments came last year after Pickett threw multiple interceptions in a failed comeback bid against the Miami Dolphins. Captured as the two came off the field, Tomlin threw his arm around Pickett with a simple but clear message of better days to come.
Pickett and the Steelers’ season looked brighter by season’s end. After the bye, Pittsburgh went 7-2 and got back into the playoff race, narrowly missing out on the final AFC Wild Card spot. Pickett’s play improved and he threw just one interception from Week 10 on.
Three games into his sophomore season, Pickett hasn’t taken the second-year leap he seemed poised to do based off his summer play. But he’s coming off his best game of the season in Week Three’s win over the Las Vegas Raiders. It was the first multi-touchdown passing performance of his NFL career and the first by a Steelers’ quarterback since Ben Roethlisberger in Week 14 of the 2021 season.
Pickett will look to build off that performance in a few hours against the Houston Texans. The Texans’ secondary is healthier with the return of safeties Jimmie Ward and Jalen Pitre and they have been relatively stingy against the pass, allowing just two passing scores in three games. But they’re also allowing a high completion percentage against and generally try to keep the ball in front of them, potentially allowing Pickett to get into a rhythm underneath.
