Professional sports are just as much prone to human emotion as it is to human error. You can be the best teammate you can possibly be, but that doesn’t mean you don’t have opinions. And sometimes you won’t agree with your coaches’ decisions—for example, about who should be starting.
The Pittsburgh Steelers are in danger of going down that road this offseason at the quarterback position. Nominal starter Kenny Pickett ended the year on the bench. Sat down due to injury initially. After a couple of games, Mason Rudolph took over and remained on the field even after Pickett was healthy.
The offense and the passing game as a whole put up better numbers, though less so in the final two games. He had some ups and downs but seemed to have a more natural comfort with his targets, like wide receivers George Pickens and Diontae Johnson.
Both had some of their best games of the season with Rudolph. Pickens had a 195-yard, two-touchdown game and then a 131-yard game. Johnson scored two touchdowns, including one in the playoffs, and twice topped 75 yards. Their production, on the whole, was less consistent with Pickett. But that and their loyalties could change quickly, Mark Kaboly of The Athletic argues.
“Here’s the thing with that: Kenny comes out, has two or three good games, has a preseason type of game in the regular season, and guess all of a sudden who’s patting him on the back and hugging him? George Pickens and Diontae Johnson”, he said on 93.7 The Fan on Friday.
The subject was the perception that the team’s skill position players preferred to play with Rudolph because the passing game, on the whole, was more efficient when he was in the lineup. Certainly, the locker room seemed to support Rudolph as the starter, with each week that head coach Mike Tomlin made the decision to keep him out there.
Toward the middle of the season, there had been rumors and speculation about Pickett’s status in the locker room. While offensive coordinator Matt Canada was a problem, some posited that players were growing frustrated with Pickett’s performance instead, or just as much.
Pickett didn’t get much time without Canada, however, before he was injured. And soon after, Rudolph, after the offensive coordinator’s firing, took over.
“Right now, those guys see that Mason’s making their career better over the past three or four games”, Kaboly said. “But if Kenny comes in and he’s successful like that, they’ll switch in a heartbeat. They would accept him with open arms”.
He added that he doesn’t think any feelings teammates might have toward Pickett have anything to do with him personally but rather how they view his game. And more specifically, what he can do to help their game and career. “I think those guys just view it as they’re helping their bottom line of getting to where they want to get to and that’s why they want them out there”.
In other words, the key for Pickett to win the locker room back is simple, if it needs winning back. Win on the field. Help your teammates succeed. Make plays and put them in position to make plays. Show them that you can hold up your own end on the field rather than just in the locker room. The organization will give him that chance, but this might be his last one before they stop trying so hard.
