Monday morning quarterbacking is the easiest job in the world, of course. It’s always easier to see what’s going on during a play well after the fact, and in the comfort of your own home, as opposed to live in the moment as defensive linemen are coming after you.
But then again, even the greatest quarterbacks in the history of the game, whether it’s Peyton Manning or Tom Brady or Ben Roethlisberger, are all doing it now. Tony Romo in particular. All of them will gladly call out plays quarterbacks missed.
In the case of current Pittsburgh Steelers QB Kenny Pickett, one Monday morning quarterback argues in so many words that he only has himself to blame for aggravating his ankle injury. Analyst and former Steelers DL Chris Hoke blames Pickett’s decision to scramble on his poor field vision on the play.
“When I watched this play again, Calvin Austin III came across in motion and was open in the flat”, he said during KDKA’s Extra Point postgame show. I will stress that he said he watched the play again, which of course Pickett had no opportunity to do while on the field. “Kenny didn’t see him. He should have hit him. Touchdown”.
And yes, he’s right. We, too, can watch the play again and see how the play unfolded and how it could have gone differently. The Steelers put Austin in motion out of a Trips formation on the right side before the snap. An in route by George Pickens isolated on the left side opened the field for what could have been a walk-in touchdown for Austin—if Pickett had seen it.
Instead, he tucked it and took off, seeing daylight and the potential to run it in himself. Only it wasn’t as light as it initially appeared, defenders able to disengage from their blocks and drag him down before he could hit the goal line—mangling his injured ankle in the process.
“It reminded me of the first time he hurt his ankle when there was another receiver who was open and he rolled out right into the defender and got sacked and got hurt”, Hoke said. “If he had just taken his reads and checked it down and thrown it to the first option he wouldn’t have gotten hurt here as well. It’s unfortunate that this happened but it could have been avoided”.
Is he wrong? Should he be saying it? Well, let’s just say that there’s a reason Pickett only has 13 career touchdown passes on 713 pass attempts in his career. The man has not thrown a touchdown in over a month. That’s not easy to do.
Pickett not seeing receivers has been an ongoing issue throughout his career, though it’s one every quarterback who plays long enough is going to run into. You simply can’t catch everything. But the frequency with which he is missing the open man when his entire job seems to be taking what the defense gives him is really hurting the team. And, as Hoke argues, hurting himself.
