Things are not going well early in the 2023 season for second-year Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Kenny Pickett.
In the first four games of the season, Pickett has thrown for just 803 yards, four touchdowns and four interceptions. After making 18 big-time throws and just 12 turnover-worthy plays as a rookie, Pickett has regressed early in the 2023 season. So far, he’s made just one big-time throw, per Pro Football Focus, and has five turnover-worthy plays on just 127 total attempts.
He’s also running himself into sacks and bailing on clean pockets early on in the year, which is quite concerning.
Pickett is coming off his worst game of the season against the Houston Texans in Week Four in which he threw for just 114 yards, had eight of his 15 completions come at or behind the line of scrimmage and was sacked three times, the last of which he ran into and got himself injured, bailing from a clean pocket on 4th and 1.
Looking ahead to Week Five against the Baltimore Ravens and beyond, Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin wants his young quarterback to be more decisive.
“I wanna see him make fluid decisions, particularly at the early stages in games. I think as plays get extended, particularly early in games, it increases the potential for offensive negativity and defensive positivity. And so I think a component of us getting off the more fluid starts is more fluid decision making, and things happening more on rhythm,” Tomlin said to reporters Tuesday, according to video via the Steelers’ YouTube page. “And so, I think that’ll be a focus for him and for us, because it’s not just him. We gotta be assignment perfect. If we want the ball to come out on time, guys gotta be where they need to be. They gotta win individual one-on-one matchups and do so quickly. We gotta protect them.”
It would be nice if the Steelers could help Pickett make more fluid decisions early in games offensively.
Through the first four games of the season, according to Pro Football Reference, Pickett is just 12-of-22 for 132 yards, one touchdown, three interceptions and just two first downs passing in the first quarter. Three of his 11 sacks on the season have come in the first quarter, too.
That points directly to a coaching and game-planning issue. The first 15 plays or so of each game are usually scripted, aimed at getting the team in a rhythm offensively.
No such rhythm exists for the Steelers or Pickett early in games, which has led to struggles and the lack of fluid decisions that Tomlin wants to see more of.
It’s not just Pickett though. The issues offensively, especially early in games, date back to the 2021 season.
As Steelers Depot’s own Alex Kozora pointed out, the Steelers have more first-quarter drives end in turnovers than they do touchdowns during that time.
It’s quite clear where the issues lie, yet for the decision makers within the Steelers, it’s a see-nothing, hear-nothing type of thing. They are turning a blind eye to it, at least publicly, and focusing on being more physical in practice, turning to pads, or stating that more fluid decisions need to be seen from Pickett.
Moving forward, with Tomlin stating he wants to see more fluid decisions, the Steelers have to make sure they’re doing everything they can to help Pickett get into a rhythm early in games. Get him on the move on the first drive, roll the pocket, boot him out, do whatever. Run his favorite play. Just get him into rhythm with the play calling, rather than putting the onus on him right away to do everything himself.
Maybe the fluid decision making needs to come from the coaching staff, too, particularly the one up in the booth.
