While he may not have thrown for any touchdowns in Pittsburgh’s 16-10 win against the Cincinnati Bengals, there’s a strong argument that yesterday’s game was QB Kenny Pickett’s best this season, the second-year man completing 24-of-33 pass attempts for 278 yards.
Speaking on the KDKA Nightly Sports Call show, former Steelers DL Chris Hoke mentioned that Pickett played the best game of his career against the Bengals on Sunday, complimenting the young quarterback on his deep ball and for trusting his offensive line to stick in the pocket.
“If he steps up into the pocket, that’s when he can drive the ball in the middle,” Hoke said about Pickett on the KDKA Nightly Sports Call show. “But when you bail out too early or spin out, you take away half the field. If he can trust the protection – what he got today was protection – step up in the pocket and throw the ball. Those deep balls, he was on the money. Yeah he missed a couple of throws here and there – that happens across the NFL – but his deep ball was on the money, and you need throws like that in order to be successful late in the season.”
Pickett has had a bad habit of leaving the pocket early when he senses pressure, spinning out into opposing defenders coming off the edge rather than stepping up in the pocket to deliver downfield passes. We saw Pickett do a better job of stepping up in the pocket on Sunday in Cincinnati, hanging in there to hit multiple shots downfield to TE Pat Freiermuth as well as WRs Diontae Johnson and George Pickens.
Pickett had his best game of the season by far when regarding his ability to convert on the deep ball. He had multiple plays of 20-plus yards in the passing game, including a game-long of 43 yards to Pickens down the left sideline as well as a 39-yard completion to Johnson on the opposite sideline and a 29-yard completion to Freiermuth down the seam. Hoke is convinced that Pickett’s numbers drastically improved not only due to his willingness to stick in the pocket, but also Pittsburgh successfully using more play-action passes to press the opposing defense.
“Kenny’s at his best in play-action and the numbers prove that,” Hoke said. “Keep doing that. That was a change I saw in today’s game.”
Given the strength of Pittsburgh’s running game, utilizing play-action would open up the offense even more given how the defense must commit to stopping the run. Pickett has always been a good play-action passer dating back to his days at Pitt, having the mobility to get out in space and make throws while on the run. The play-action game opened up more this week in Cincinnati, allowing Pickett to have his best passing performance on the season, less than a week after his offensive coordinator was fired.
He’ll have to show this week’s performance wasn’t just a one-game fluke, but Pickett as well as the offense looked night-and-day better against the Bengals than they have all season, eclipsing 400 total yards for the first time since 2020. With the Arizona Cardinals on deck, there’s a good chance Pickett could keep this momentum going into next week.
