Now 21 games into his NFL career, who — and what — Pittsburgh Steelers’ second-year quarterback Kenny Pickett is under center remains largely unknown.
In those 21 career games, Pickett has 13 touchdowns to 13 interceptions, is averaging just 6.3 yards per attempt and has thrown for 3,854 yards with a 62.4 completion percentage. Those numbers aren’t exactly pretty, and yet he has six fourth-quarter comebacks and seven game-winning drives to this point in his career and boasts a 12-8 record as a starter in the Black and Gold.
Winning is all that matters, but concerns persist about Pickett, who struggles in the first three quarters of games with his accuracy and decision making, and then turns it on in the fourth quarter, looking like an entirely different quarterback.
Those struggles throughout games and then the heroics late has longtime talking head Dan Patrick concerned about Pickett moving forward, seeing a quarterback who is “consistently” saved by a Hall of Fame head coach in Mike Tomlin and bailed out by a great defense.
Highlighting Pickett and the Steelers last Friday after their 20-16 win over the Tennessee Titans on Thursday Night Football, Patrick raised concerns about Pickett and the inability to be consistent week to week, let alone throughout entire games.
“The offense doesn’t score over 17 points per game. He’s saved by a Hall of Fame coach and a great defense. But at some point, Kenny Pickett has to make a couple of plays and they do have some skilled position players on offense and it’s not all on him,” Patrick said, according to video via The Dan Patrick Show’s YouTube page. “And yes, I know the offensive coordinator gets a lot of blame, but maybe it should be shared blame with the quarterback.
“It just doesn’t always appear on a consistent basis. And I think that’s the danger because that’s a really competitive division. And even though they’ve squeezed out five wins, which is pretty miraculous, it feels like that catches up to you in the end.”
The win over the Titans was a good example of those inconsistencies with Pickett and the Steelers. Pickett led an opening-drive touchdown, hitting some key throws to Diontae Johnson and Allen Robinson II, and the running game get going with Jaylen Warren and Najee Harris, leading to a 10-yard rushing touchdown from Harris, giving the Steelers an early 7-0 lead.
After that though, Pickett struggled to hit some simple concepts, which may or may not have been due to the rib injury he was playing through. Regardless, he was healthy enough to play and was letting the Steelers down with some of his misfires, missing an open George Pickens on a crossing route that should have gone for a big gain, and later throwing a pass into the ground intended for Robinson in the end zone that should have been six points.
The Steelers, instead, had to settle for three points.
As Pickett struggled, the defense allowed the Steelers to hang around just enough, stopping the Titans a few times in the red zone, forcing them to settle for field goals. The defense kept the score at 16-13 midway through the fourth quarter, thanks to pass rushers Alex Highsmith and T.J. Watt getting after rookie quarterback Will Levis and rookie cornerback Joey Porter Jr. putting the clamps on DeAndre Hopkins.
Keeping it the game close gave the Steelers and opportunity in the fourth quarter, and Clutch Kenny came up big, hitting Johnson for a big 32-yard strike down the right sideline, putting the Steelers in Tennessee territory. Then, Warren ripped off a 22-yard run and a few plays later Pickett hit Johnson for a 3-yard touchdown, giving him his first receiving touchdown since the Wild Card-round loss to the Kansas City Chiefs in 2021.
Long time coming.
Though the Steelers won another low-scoring, one-possession game, Pickett was bailed out throughout the night by a great defensive performance before ultimately coming alive when it mattered most. That style is leading to wins now. It doesn’t feel sustainable though, especially in a loaded AFC North and AFC overall.
As Patrick questioned, that style has got to catch up to the Steelers at some point, no? We’ll see. If Pickett keeps struggling, it just might catch up to them in a big spot or two, derailing the season.
