Throughout the first year-and-a-half of his career, rarely — if ever — did Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Kenny Pickett attack the middle of the field. Oftentimes, there weren’t even many concepts there to attack under former offensive coordinator Matt Canada.
When the looks were there over the middle, Pickett wasn’t targeting them. The Steelers were rather predictable offensively, threw outside the numbers far too often in the passing game and rarely challenged downfield.
That all changed in Week 12 following the firing of Canada.
In the first game post-Canada, Pickett and the Steelers attacked down the field and over the middle against the Cincinnati Bengals, leading to the best offensive showing from the Steelers in nearly three seasons. That is no coincidence.
For former NFL defensive back and ESPN analyst Domonique Foxworth, the Steelers now have a better understanding without Canada that Pickett is capable of throwing over the middle of the field.
“They haven’t added much to their offense scheme wise…And if you run the ball as much as the Steelers do, as a lot of Shanahan systems will do, you then attack the middle of the field or you attack the run defenders in the pass game. So that means the middle of the field, that means tight ends, that means play-action and boot and those sorts of things,” Foxworth said, according to audio via his podcast. “And in this game it seemed that they understood for the first time that there can be some like coherence to your offensive game plan and understand that Kenny Pickett is capable of throwing it over the middle of the field or to the tight ends and putting linebackers and safeties in binds and every pass doesn’t have to be way outside.”
The middle of the field was a vast wasteland for the offense under Canada. Too often the Steelers just didn’t take advantage of the opportunities between the numbers, instead focusing on throwing outside of the numbers on “safer” routes to the sidelines.
You can’t play offense like that in today’s NFL where spacing and route concepts are so key. The Steelers learned that the hard way, but the important thing is that they learned the lesson and are focused on implementing changes to try and take advantage of that area of the field.
Sunday was a good start in Cincinnati. Right away, Pickett attacked the middle of the field, hitting tight end Pat Freiermuth for a 24-yard gain on the first play from scrimmage. Later in the first quarter, Pickett hit Freiermuth for a gain of 29 yards on a 3rd and 14, moving the chains. Pickett also attacked deep, hitting Diontae Johnson for a 39-yard gain and later hitting George Pickens for a 43-yard gain down the field.
Pickett was more aggressive, read the field well and had answers pre- and post-snap. That’s quite important for the young quarterback moving forward. He showed he’s capable of throwing over the middle, being smart with the football, and attacking down the field. Now it’s time to utilize it consistently moving forward.
