The big talk surrounding the Pittsburgh Steelers in the national media is that the team has been outgained in yards in all nine games it has played this season, yet is somehow 6-3 and in prime position to make the playoffs. The offense and defense hasn’t been great in terms of yards gained and yards allowed, ranking 28th in football in both categories. Still, be it a game-winning drive by QB Kenny Pickett and the offense in the fourth quarter or a key turnover caused by the defense, Pittsburgh has managed to win six one-possession games this season.
Mike Florio and Peter King of NBC talked about the Steelers on an episode of Pro Football Talk on Friday with Florio pointing to Pittsburgh’s yardage stat as a statistical outlier in terms of it still winning football games. King pointed to another stat that has him puzzled regarding how Pittsburgh has gotten to a 6-3 record, seeing as the team’s quarterback is throwing touchdowns at an alarmingly low rate.
“You know what’s amazing?” King said to Florio on video from NFL on NBC’s YouTube channel. “That Kenny Pickett in the last six games… this is six games. This is not one or two. The last six games, he’s thrown two touchdown passes. He’s like Zach Wilson West. How in the world are they winning all of these games when Kenny Pickett is completing whatever it is, I think he’s completing like 61 percent, and he doesn’t score touchdowns? What in the world is going on here?”
Pickett has two passing touchdowns in his last six games, having missed time in both the Houston Texans and Jacksonville Jaguars games with injuries though he was able to come back the next week. Still, while Pickett has shown moments of promise, like with his fourth-quarter touchdown passes against the Ravens and Titans as well as his fourth-quarter performance against the Rams, it hasn’t been near consistent enough for what Pittsburgh needs.
Pickett has a 2.4% touchdown rate on the season, only slightly better than the poor 1.8% touchdown rate that he posted as a rookie. It’s a far cry from the production that he had in his final year at Pitt, posting 42 touchdowns to seven interceptions in 2021. However, the years prior to Pickett’s breakout season in 2021 look more like his production in the league  He never surpassed more than 13 touchdowns in a season while posting low yardage totals and around a 61.0% completion rate like he has this season in the pros.
So, it Pickett more like the player we saw at Pitt in his four seasons or the player from his 2021 season when he was a Heisman Trophy finalist? The results thus far in the league tend to lean that way, at least for now. Head coach Mike Tomlin mentioned this Tuesday that the team is going to need more from Pickett going forward, especially after a dismal effort against the Green Bay Packers. He threw for just 126 yards and no touchdowns as he failed to capitalize off a hot start by the offense.
Ultimately, this team will be judged based on wins rather than stats, and Tomlin said as much about his quarterback. Still, as Pickett comes close to finishing his sophomore season in the league, he must start showing more as a passer than we have seen thus far, resembling more of the player we saw in his final season at Pitt than the first four seasons that more resemble his NFL career to date.
