The discussion regarding Pittsburgh Steelers second-year quarterback Kenny Pickett starts and ends with one thing and one thing only right now: he wins.
In his first 22 games (21 starts), Pickett is 13-8, including 6-3 this season. That’s a .619 winning percentage through his first season and a half as a starter for the Black and Gold.
For many, that’s good enough as winning is the all-important thing in professional sports. But contextualizing those wins and how the Steelers are winning is important. Granted, Pickett is playing exceptionally well in the final quarter of games in his career, leading the Steelers to six fourth-quarter comebacks and seven game-winning drives in the NFL. But the first three quarters are a slog.
He’s seemingly regressed this season in a number of key areas, too, particularly accuracy.
Though the wins are there more often than the losses, for Fox Sports talking head Colin Cowherd, the wins and losses can’t be the only thing to judge a quarterback on in today’s NFL.
One day after Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin stated that he and Pickett are judged on wins and losses and that’s all that matters in the profession, Cowherd went on quite the rant
“Mike Tomlin says, ‘Hey, Kenny Pickett’s winning, and he should be measured by wins.’ Well, Tim Tebow won seven straight games. Tim Tebow has an over .500 NFL record. He’s bad. He was winning because of a great defense and Matt Prater’s amazing foot over mostly bad teams,” Cowherd said in response to Tomlin’s comments about Pickett winning games. “You don’t sign Tim Tebow to a five-year massive contract. ‘Well, we won seven in a row.’ You contextualize why he was winning.”
“…It can’t just be wins and losses or results,” Cowherd added.
Though the Steelers might be viewing Pickett based on him winning or losing, the rest of the league certainly isn’t. At this point in his career, though he is not turning the football over, he’s not doing much in the passing game. He has one of the lowest touchdown rates in NFL history through his first 22 games at just 2.0%. That’s rather discouraging.
His accuracy is a mess, sitting below 60% in the first three quarters of the game before skyrocketing in the fourth quarter, making magic happen in the final 15 minutes of games, pulling the Steelers back from the brink. The late-game heroics are great and all, but they can’t be relied upon. Pickett hasn’t shown much growth in Year Two and appears to be regressing in certain areas.
Therefore, you can’t just judge Pickett on the wins and losses. There’s so much more to the game today than that at the quarterback position.
“So like the Kenny Pickett thing, the Steelers are literally setting NFL history by winning and getting outgained every week. They have a losing point differential. If it was just about winning, C.J. Stroud’s 5-4, Kenny Pickett, 6-3. Not a single GM in the league would take Kenny Pickett at 6-3,” Cowherd said. “Is he better than Justin Herbert at 4-5? You have to contextualize the Chargers. They’re not very well-coached. C.J. Stroud, that’s a rebuilding roster. The Steelers have a great roster. Joe Burrow, 5-4, Josh Allen, 5-5. Worse records than Kenny Pickett.
“I understand being judged by it, but if you’re just gonna look at Kenny Pickett and go, ‘Hey, he’s winning games, it’s not good enough, right?’ It’s not good enough. That’s why you pay GMs seven figures for context and discretion. It can’t be about wins. Tim Tebow went on a heater and John Elway got out of there. He got outta that business.”
Cowherd raises some good points, which calls to mind the meme regarding a guy you don’t like making a good point.
Pickett is 6-3 as a start this season. That matters, as the Steelers are firmly in the AFC playoff picture and are finding ways to win. It might not look pretty, but it’s getting the job done. What does that say about his future? That’s to be discussed at a later date after he completes his second season.
For now, he’s doing exactly what’s asked of him: protect the football, make just enough plays and don’t do anything to lose the game as the Steelers rely on a star-studded defense and a run game that is progressively getting better.
In the end, will Pickett be judged by wins and losses? Yes. But there will also be discussion about how he got there, based on his production and overall abilities. Right now, that production and overall abilities aren’t matching up with that record, for better or worse.
