The Pittsburgh Steelers will face the Cincinnati Bengals on Sunday at 1 pm ET. Both teams are holding onto fading AFC playoff hopes and have major issues at quarterback. Kenny Pickett has regressed so far as a signal-caller this season that Matt Canada was fired after a 13-10 loss to the Cleveland Browns. The Bengals will line up without Joe Burrow on Sunday, who will miss the remainder of the season with a wrist injury.
Jordan Schofield / SteelerNation (Twitter / x: @JSKO PHOTO)
Steelers Head Coach Mike Tomlin handed over the keys of the offense to Kenny Pickett just a month into the 2022 season.
On Friday, Geoff Hobson, a senior writer for Bengals.com, joined Ron Cook on The Cook & Joe Show. Cook and Hobson discussed the upcoming tilt between the third and fourth place teams in the AFC North. Neither team would be officially eliminated with a loss on Sunday, but the game's loser would need a lot of things to go right in the last six weeks of the NFL season. Hobson was cautiously optimistic about the Bengals' chances with Jake Browning.
“It’s a reboot, you’re franchise guy. You don’t have him,” Hobson said about the Bengals new quarterback. “I think in Browning, they have a guy. He doesn't have a very long line in Pro Football Reference, but he’s also a guy that’s been around the league for five years. He knows this system backward and forward. He’s probably had more training camp experience than any backup in the league.”
Hobson is engaging in a little bit of hyperbole, but his point is that Burrow has missed most of the last two training camps in Cincinnati. Browning has minimal regular season experience, but after falling to Dorian Thompson-Robinson in only his second professional start in Week 11, the Steelers should have a healthy fear of another unknown quarterback.
Karl Roser / Pittsburgh Steelers
Steelers' new Offensive Coordinator Eddie Faulkner and play-caller Mike Sullivan talk on the sideline during Week 11 in 2023.
The Steelers have lost twice to rookie quarterbacks in 2023, so it isn’t unreasonable for the Bengals to have hope heading into Week 12 with their experienced backup. One of Tomlin's calling cards before 2023 was his ability to confuse and rattle rookie quarterbacks. CJ Stroud and Thompson-Robinson broke the pattern in two distinctly different ways. The Bengals have much better weapons on offense surrounding Browning, so Pickett, Eddie Faulkner, and Mike Sullivan will need to give the defense room for error.
“I think they feel like they’ll get a good enough performance out of the offense with Ja’Marr Chase and Joe Mixon,” Hobson continued. “I think they feel like they can grind it out offensively, but the defense has to get back to where it was in that stretch where they shut down San Francisco and Buffalo.”
The Buffalo Bills fired Ken Dorsey a week before the Steelers as their offensive coordinator. Kyle Shanahan’s offense embarrassed the Steelers twice this season. Pittsburgh’s offense has shown no signs of being anywhere near either level of offense with Canada and Pickett. Hobson shared that a date with the struggling Steelers offense is crucial for the Bengals' hopes in Week 12. Winning is the key to staying in the hunt for an AFC Wild Card berth, and Hobson likes their chances.
"New OC, new quarterback, I call it an almost wild card, 'cause it's not going to be good for the loser," Hobson observed. "They are looking at Pittsburgh like they always look at Pittsburgh. It's always a huge game for them, and it always means something. They are buckling up. I think kind of an emotional week. They are going to rally around Browning at home. I like the Bengals."
The Bengals and Steelers are both facing must-win situations for radically different reasons. The Bengals have a horrible conference record and will lose most tiebreakers against the teams they will compete with over the last seven games. An 0-2 trip through Ohio against two quarterbacks without experience starting games in the NFL would be disastrous for Pittsburgh. The game is part of a crucial three-game stretch of winnable football games that must result in a victory to make the playoffs.
Steelers' Kenny Pickett Releases Devastating Statement About Offensive Changes
The Steelers are not installing a brand new offense against the Bengals. Pickett pointed out that the offense will be similar to what fans have seen over the past two years. Tomlin must hope that the cutesy wrinkles derailing promising drives will be eliminated. The Steelers need to rely on a suddenly productive running game and give Pickett the best chance to succeed by eliminating a passing game built on choice routes.
Karl Roser / Pittsburgh Steelers
Steelers' Kenny Pickett struggled on Sunday in a 13-10 loss to the Cleveland Browns.
Simplifying an offense like the Steelers is tricky. The route concepts are bad, and Canada's play-calling was even worse. Calling plays against formation tendencies could get Sullivan and, more importantly, Pickett off to a fast start on Sunday. If the only change Faulkner and Sullivan make is calling tendency breakers, Pickett could gain some much-needed confidence in Cincinnati.
What do you think, Steeler Nation? What are you hoping to see from Pickett and the offense on Sunday to turn the season around? Please comment below or on my Twitter/X: @thebubbasq.
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