At halftime of the Pittsburgh Steelers Week Four game with the New York Jets, head coach Mike Tomlin moved rookie quarterback Kenny Pickett into the starting lineup to give the Steelers offense a spark. Now, as Pickett prepares to start his sixth game, some evaluation can take place.
This is what Tomlin has done and according to him, he is very happy with Pickett’s growth and development through six and a half games.
At the same time, Tomlin noted that Pickett can be his own worst enemy. This feels much more accurate. The one area where Pickett has stepped up in recent weeks has been in choosing to run the ball rather than force a throw. Progress for sure. And since Tomlin seems to find no reason to incorporate much in the way of designed runs for Pickett, these are welcome.
But as a thrower, there is still a lot of work to be done. Last week against the Saints, Pickett missed on several throws where he had receivers open and only averaged 6.6 yards per attempt. Even with the remarkable rushing performance of last week, the Steelers could only muster 20 points against a hobbled Saints defense. Eventually this team is going to have to outscore an opposing team and at this point I’m not sure if Pickett is playing with the confidence to do that.
