With a healthy, full complement of pass-catching weapons, Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Kenny Pickett and the passing attack for the Black and Gold was supposed to get back on track in Week 11 against the Cleveland Browns.
Instead, through the first half Sunday at Cleveland Browns Stadium, Pittsburgh’s passing attack struggled mightily, gaining just 34 yards through the air as Pickett is just 5-for-8 at the half. The 34 passing yards in the first half is a career-low for Pickett to this point in his career.
That about sums it up.
Once again, the Steelers haven’t utilized the middle of the field. Not a single target in the middle of the field on the first eight attempts of the game for Pickett.
Just take a look at the first-half passing chart for Pittsburgh. Disclaimer: it’s graphic.
In a matchup against rookie fifth-round pick Dorian Thompson-Robinson, making just his second career start for the Browns, Pickett has looked like the worse quarterback. He is struggling to make plays with his arm, being on the wrong page with wide receiver Diontae Johnson on a key third down in the second quarter, not seeing a pre-snap blitz on the first play of the game, taking a sack from Myles Garrett in the process, and having two passes batted at the line of scrimmage with plays set up for potential big gains.
The struggles from the passing game are nothing new, especially coming off the Week 10 performance against the Green Bay Packers, who were down their top three defensive backs. Pickett and the Steelers threw for just 126 yards against Green Bay.
While the Steelers did run for 205 yards in the 23-19 win, Pickett and the passing game couldn’t do much of anything in that matchup, though a big play to George Pickens late in the game was wiped out due to an offensive pass interference penalty on Calvin Austin III.
The good news from the first half is that the Steelers ran the ball well against Cleveland’s strong defensive front. Pittsburgh is averaging 4.1 yards per carry in the first half. Najee Harris has 23 yards on five carries, while Jaylen Warren has 19 yards on three carries. Pittsburgh needs to stick to the run game in the second half, because the passing game clearly isn’t clicking — again.
