With Matt Canada out the door, all eyes will be on QB Kenny Pickett these last seven games of the 2023 season to see if he was truly being held back by his former offensive coordinator and the system he was running, or if Pickett’s struggles fall more on him as a player as he attempts to establish himself as a franchise quarterback in Year Two.
However, Colin Cowherd doesn’t believe that Pickett has a chance to become Pittsburgh’s franchise guy, regardless of whether Canada is the one calling the plays or not. He went on The Herd on Wednesday to state that Pickett’s inability to develop as a franchise quarterback won’t be because of Canada’s inability to call an effective offense, but rather the defensive culture that Pittsburgh has embraced throughout their existence.
“I wonder if Kenny Pickett is doomed,” Cowherd said on video from his X profile. “I think Pittsburgh has the strongest defensive culture. That’s what I think about with the Steelers. Even with Bradshaw… Steel Curtain. Even with Big Ben, I thought defense. They spend their money on defense. Chuck Noll, Bill Cowher, Mike Tomlin… all defense. They wake up and think defense. They talk toughness over clever, and I don’t think Kenny Pickett is good enough to overcome that culture.”
Cowherd has often pointed to the Steelers and their history of defense as the reason that they are so bad offensively, stating that they put more of an emphasis on having the defense as a strength and invest most of their money and draft picks on the defensive side of the ball as well.
While Cowherd’s stance is partially flawed seeing as the majority of Pittsburgh’s proven veteran players worthy of big contracts are on defense and that the offense is full of guys on rookie deals, his argument does have some truth. The Steelers have always prided themselves in having a stout defense, ranging from the Steel Curtain in the 70s to Blitzburgh in the 90s to the famous 2008 Steelers’ defense. Chuck Noll, Bill Cowher, and Mike Tomlin were all defensive-minded guys, starting out as position coaches before becoming defensive coordinators prior to landing their head coaching gigs in Pittsburgh.
Still, Pittsburgh has produced some great offensive playmakers in their history. QB Terry Bradshaw was a four-time Super Bowl champ and a Hall of Famer as will be Ben Roethlisberger, becoming one of the top quarterbacks in NFL history when it comes to passing yards and touchdowns. The Killer B’s dominated on the offensive side of the ball as RB Le’Veon Bell and WR Antonio Brown were the best duo in football for several years in football as the Steelers boasted one of the league’s best offenses.
Still, Tomlin tends to believe in running the ball and playing tough defense to win games, especially with a young quarterback like Pickett to take some of the pressure off him. This has led some to think that Pickett and Canada were just doing as Tomlin wanted. Some feel that Tomlin didn’t want to take the leash off Pickett and allow him to open things up, risking turnovers and not allowing him to operate more freely in the offense.
Roethlisberger and Bradshaw were able to succeed in a defensive culture like Pittsburgh’s at quarterback, but they were allowed to make plays off-script and have some freedom when on the field rather than operate in a restricted offense. The Steelers need to see if Pickett can do that as well, meaning that Tomlin will have to loosen his grip on the reins and let Pickett cook on play action and outside of the pocket, proving Cowherd wrong that he can in fact succeed for a franchise that prides itself with it’s defenses.
