The Pittsburgh Steelers have had a passing game problem for much of the season. It’s difficult to try and divvy up and assign blame, but fired offensive coordinator Matt Canada, QB Kenny Pickett, and the receivers themselves have all played a role in the lack of success.
WR George Pickens spoke to members of the Pittsburgh media on Friday after practice about the offense moving forward.
“Our confidence is already there,” Pickens said in a clip posted by 93.7 The Fan on X. “Our guys in the receiver room want to just keep working. We not going to shy away from it. We gonna still try to get open, it’s a little bit about us, too.”
The easy finger to point has been at Canada, but now that he is gone, the spotlight shifts to Pickett. One aspect that hasn’t been getting talked about enough is the role the receivers are playing in the struggles, something Pickens acknowledged in his quote above.
Some of that takes the form of dropped passes or miscommunications on routes, but another big pain point has been average separation generated by the receivers. This issue is made clear when looking at leaguewide average separation, like in this chart put together by Jrfortgang using Pro Football Focus’s data.
This shows the Steelers being in the lower-left quadrant, which means they are both not getting separation, and Pickett is not making the most of the separation he gets. The Steelers’ receivers are generating the eighth-lowest average separation per route run. Some of this data needs context, as the Steelers’ top separator, Diontae Johnson, missed four games due to injury, but as a unit it has not been good enough.
Pickett definitely isn’t doing enough with what he is getting; just look at Patrick Mahomes with less average separation but a much higher percentage of completions to open receivers. This data paints a picture that while the receivers aren’t doing a great job of getting open, Pickett also isn’t seeing the field well enough to find the guys who do get open.
Pickens was asked later in that media session if he sees the passing game opening up more now with a different coordinator and play caller.
“I would hope so,” Pickens said in a clip posted by TribLIVE’s Chris Adamski on X. “All I can do personally is just keep working, but I would hope so, yeah.”
In order for the passing game to open up and find more success, each player on offense is going to need to take it upon himself to improve. The game plan and the in-game adjustments aren’t going to be kind to the passing game if they cannot consistently provide a spark to the offense. Hopefully the Steelers use the change at offensive coordinator as an impetus to turn things around.
