For good or ill, it seems the Pittsburgh Steelers are going to be in the spotlight constantly this season. I don’t think anybody has become more aware of that recently than second-year WR George Pickens, who has had his every move vivisected over the course of the past week.
Yet there always seems to be something to say about the team, whether it’s from the national media or the local, or a combination of both. Pro Football Focus’ Steve Palazzolo was recently on 93.7 The Fan with Andrew Fillipponi and Chris Mueller, for example, to weigh in on the state of the team.
Asked if he would take Steelers QB Kenny Pickett this week or the Green Bay Packers’ Jordan Love, their next opponents, Palazzolo allowed that he would go for Pittsburgh’s option. He gave Pickett credit generally for playing in a system that doesn’t make it easy on him in contrast to other teams.
“Pickett’s much better these last three weeks than he’s been the first four, five, but they’re like empty-calorie throws”, he said. “There’s no freebies. It’s the complete opposite of the 49ers or Brock Purdy offense where it’s just like, ‘Hey, here’s a free 30 yards either on a screen or a wide-open throw over the middle. You just don’t get that from the Steelers”.
This isn’t the first time they’ve contrasted the two second-year quarterbacks, for the obvious reason that they are in the same stage of their careers. Yet Purdy plays in an offense under Kyle Shanahan that allows for many more easy wins that Pickett doesn’t get under Matt Canada as offensive coordinator.
“Everything statistically feels bad for Pickett, but I think what they’re asked the do—throwing the ball outside the numbers, these lower-percentage type of throws—I think Pickett’s doing a pretty good job, or at least a better job in these last few weeks”, Palazzolo said. He noted that his Pro Football Focus grade is a little better than where he might rank in more conventional statistics like passer rating.
The problem of few easy wins on plays is one that has been present in Canada’s offense since he got here, and frankly, it’s not clear why. Rarely do you watch a Steelers game and say to yourself, “That was a nice play call”. Yeah, they happen every so often, but usually in the midst of a barrage of difficult plays, whether they succeed or fail.
“The offense is not creating the easy”, he said back in August. “It’s the opposite of the Kyle Shanahan system where you don’t have to perform at a high level to have gaudy stats. Steelers quarterbacks, it seems over these last couple of years, have to work really hard to have great stats. Usually, you look at the offensive coordinator or the playmakers, and I don’t think it’s the playmakers in Pittsburgh”.
But that’s also the easy way out, at least for us. He’s not letting Pickett off the hook, but it’s also far too early just to throw your hands up and blame Canada. There are certainly throws that Pickett is missing. As Palazzolo said, though, he has been better since the bye week. If he continues in that trajectory, perhaps things will start to look easier, whether they actually are or not.
