The Pittsburgh Steelers soundly defeated the New Orleans Saints in a Week 10 matchup, 20-10. The game was not as close as it sounds as the Steelers left 6 points on the field with Matthew Wright’s surprisingly bad performance. The Steelers rookie signal caller Kenny Pickett finally earned his first start to finish win in his career during a rock-solid performance against one of the best defenses in the NFL.
Abigail Dean / Pittsburgh Steelers
“It feels good to be up here after a win,” Pickett stated in his postgame press conference. “We took more shots, obviously we want to hit more than we did. The one to Diontae [Johnson] was big, but we need a lot more. Guys played really hard today.”
After the loss to the Philadelphia Eagles, it was nice to see the rookie show growth and credit his teammates in the victory during the press conference after the game.
Karl Roser / Pittsburgh Steelers
Pickett looked down the field several times for big plays, but missed a couple of deep throws early in the game. The former Pitt Panther finally connected on a beautiful deep shot to Diontae Johnson with just over a minute remaining in the third quarter on a 36-yard pass play. The big pass set up the go-ahead field goal for the Steelers early in the fourth quarter. The deep ball was by far his best throw of the day, and was perfectly placed to Johnson.
“I think we had a lot more in-breakers over the field,” Pickett continued. “I think we did a good job hitting those and giving guys opportunities to have some more run after catch and that’s something we want to continue to improve on.”
Part of the criticism of both the offensive coordinator Matt Canada and Pickett was the lack of plays in the middle of the football field. It was obvious that the coordinator and the quarterback worked a lot during the bye week to adjust the rookie signal caller’s sight adjustment and the availability of players in his sight line over the middle. The Steelers will have plenty of opportunities in the middle of the field because Johnson and George Pickens demand respect on the outside from defenses.
“The O-line was unbelievable, and just how those guys stuck with it,” Pickett said. “They worked hard on the bye week and Najee [Harris] and Jaylen [Warren] did what they do best. We have two really good talented backs and we kind of leaned on those guys today. I thought we had really good balance today.”
Karl Roser/Pittsburgh Steelers
Pickett led an offense that had almost identical yard totals on both sides of the ball. The Steelers balance on offense was integral to the success today and Canada did an excellent job calling the plays. The lack of offensive penalties by the offensive line was a huge key and outside of Kevin Dotson, the offensive line did a much better job opening holes for running backs who were dedicated to running north and south.
“We have talent all over the place and it’s my job to distribute the ball,” Pickett concluded. “They take care of the rest, like I said it was a step in the right direction. Not where we need to be, or where we want to be, but it’s a good start.”
Karl Roser / Pittsburgh Steelers
Pickett has been almost as heavily criticized recently as his offensive coordinator and both had solid games today. Mike Tomlin has tied the fate of the 2022 Steelers to this relationship and the corresponding production. The Steelers weren’t perfect against a very good defense, but with T.J. Watt and the black and gold matching up against Andy Dalton and the Saints offense, they didn’t need to be perfect. They need to score and hold the ball to rest the defense. Mission accomplished in Week 10.
The Pittsburgh Steelers will host the Cincinnati Bengals at Acrisure Stadium next week in a game the NFL felt would not be good enough for primetime. The Steelers offense might not be ready for primetime just yet, but the nation will get a firsthand look to see if Pickett is ready to headline a matinee next Sunday at 4:25 PM ET.
What do you think, Steeler Nation? Are you happy with how the Steelers adjusted during the bye week and can it be replicated going forward? Please comment below, or on my Twitter @thebubbasq.
