In a historically-awful loss last Sunday, the Pittsburgh Steelers are officially falling off the tracks. Following last week’s game, we’ve seen continued pent-up turmoil within the locker room and head coach, Mike Tomlin searching for answers. Although the Steelers knew they had a tough task ahead of them against the Buffalo Bills, a 38-3 final score was something they did not anticipate. No one could expect a complete dismantlement like what transpired. However, hidden in the ugliness of their performance, there was a young bright spot for the Steelers in Buffalo, and he hashed things out on Wednesday.
Steelers' Kenny Pickett (#8) takes his first huddle as the starting quarterback against the New York Jets. | Credit: Jordan Schofield/SteelerNation (JSKO_PHOTO Twitter)
Kenny Pickett talked after Wednesday’s practice about what he and the Steelers’ offense need to do to get their groove back this week.
In his first career start, Pickett finished with 327 passing yards on 34 completions with a single interception and a quarterback rating of 74.8. If you were to tell me that a rookie quarterback would go on the road and post over 300 passing yards on the top-ranked pass defense in the league, I would’ve guessed that meant they were able to score over 3 points for the entire game. Not to mention, the offense possessed the ball for 13 minutes longer than the Bills and were able to get into the red zone four times. In short, Pickett did all he could and it showed. What did he think of his performance last week? Pickett explained:
“I liked the efficiency. Moving up and down the field, then we hit the 20 (yard line) and just didn’t get in the endzone, and we looked at it, definitely got to tweak some things to get guys some opportunities and you know we have to execute and come away with touchdowns there and points.”
Steelers' Kenny Pickett (#8) gets ready to take the snap heading into the red zone at Acrisure Stadium against the New York Jets on Oct. 2, 2022. | Credit: Jordan Schofield/SteelerNation (JSKO_PHOTO Twitter)
Pickett highlighted one of two key areas that have been a sore spot for the entire offense; that being their red zone offense. So far for the season, they’re ranked 25th, and have a 46% scoring percentage when inside the 20-yard line. For reference, this is last in the division and didn’t score once from the red zone in Buffalo. In addition to the offense in the red zone, converting on third down still continues to be a laughable ‘herculean’ task as well. The Steelers are currently converting only 36% of third downs (in layman’s terms, they have about a 1 in 3 chance of converting on third down), which is in the bottom 50 percentile in the league and last in the division.
It is safe to say there is a lot to correct in a short amount of time. Sure, the Steelers are entering their toughest stretch of the season after just five weeks into it, but they could sit at an insurmountable 1-7 record heading into their Week 9 bye week. So, what is going to fix the looming problems in Pittsburgh? Pickett simply said:
"The only thing that's going to fix this is winning. There's not a pep talk. No great speech is going to turn this around. We've got to go produce on Sunday. We've got to go do it as players, as men."
This week’s contest is obviously no easy feat. The Steelers welcome the Tampa Bay Buccaneers led by Tom Brady to Acrisure Stadium on Sunday afternoon. While the Steelers and Brady have quite a history, there are some other underlying notes to make leading into the weekend. The first comes from the NFL Media Research Department. Brady currently holds an impressive 23-5 career record against rookie starting quarterbacks. In addition, he has won his last 12 consecutive games against year one starters. The first quarterback to beat Brady was none other than Ben Roethlisberger in 2004. This week brings another potential Pickett-and-Roethlisberger possibility.
Steelers' Kenny Pickett (#8) gets ready to take the field against the Detroit Lions on Aug. 28, 2022 at Acrisure Stadium in Pittsburgh, PA. | Credit: Jordan Schofield/SteelerNation (@JSKO_PHOTO, Twitter)
The second one is a bit obvious as Brady is currently 45 years old and has been in the league since 2000. Pickett meanwhile, was born in 1998 making him just two years old when Brady started in New England. After growing up during the 'Brady-era,' Pickett is excited to square off against the future Hall of Fame quarterback:
“Growing up, since I first started playing football, I was playing with him in Madden,” he said. “Since I can remember, I’ve been watching him in the NFL, so absolute legend of the game, nothing but respect, and I’m excited for a really good opportunity on Sunday.”
Current Steelers' Kenny Pickett (#8) drops back in the pocket while playing in college at the University of Pittsburgh in 2021. | Credit: Jordan Schofield/SteelerNation (JSKO_PHOTO Twitter)
Similar to last week, Pickett is slated to face another NFL top-10 pass defense in the Buccaneers. Not to mention, this will be Pickett’s first start in Pittsburgh since his college days. While at the University of Pittsburgh, Pickett held a 18-8 all-time record at the stadium that was previously called Heinz Field. Pickett has great memories of beating the likes of Clemson, the University of Central Florida, and Miami on the same field. It is the same field where he posted collegiate records and reignited the Pitt football program. So, what does this first start on his old college stomping grounds mean to Pickett? He briefly said:
"That has not crossed my mind," he admitted. "That's going to be a great moment, but it's going to be short-lived."
Pickett and the Steelers continue to turn the page of their 2022 season as they work towards Week 6.
What are you watching in practice this week? Do you think the offense will score more than a field goal against the Bucs? Let us know in the comments below!
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