The Pittsburgh Steelers advanced to 4-2 behind an explosive fourth-quarter offense and another stout performance by the defense. The offense was just one-for-seven entering the fourth quarter before Diontae Johnson’s 39-yard catch-and-run kick-started the offense in the fourth quarter. The team went on to possess the ball for 11:55 of the fourth quarter, tacked on 14 extra points, and left its offense out on the field to end the game.
On Rich Eisen’s Overreaction Monday, they discussed how this Steelers team could possibly be 4-2 given their caliber of play for the majority of each game.
“The fourth quarter, is it Pickett time? Do we call it Pickett time? He becomes a different quarterback in the fourth quarter. Like (Tim) Tebow. I don’t know what it is. Maybe it’s not (sustainable),” Eisen said when asked if Pickett’s late game heroics was a sustainable model for this team.
It is true, Pickett’s play has been noticeably better at the end of games, specifically in the fourth quarter. It was one of the big reasons for optimism after Pickett’s rookie season where he was otherwise unimpressive looking at the statistics.
Pickett has now led six fourth-quarter comebacks per Michael Bertsch of the Steelers’ PR department. That is tied for the fourth most by any quarterback in the first 18 games of their career. In 2023, his passer rating in the fourth quarter is 102.8 compared to his 81.3 for the whole season. Considering his play in the fourth quarter is dragging up that overall passer rating, he is clearly playing at a much higher level in the waning minutes of games. His adjusted net yards per passing attempt (ANY/A) this season in the fourth quarter is 9.33 compared to his overall ANY/A of 5.28. That 9.33 number in the fourth quarter would lead the league by a noticeable margin if it held up over the course of each game.
It has been a topic of discussion all season now, trying to figure out how to get fourth quarter Pickett to appear earlier in games. The Steelers’ brass needs to look long and hard at what is working in the fourth quarter and try to replicate it the best they can.
