PITTSBURGH (93.7 The Fan) – Kenny Pickett had a perfect offseason. From the picture-book wedding to the leadership with his teammates. All things were shining for Pickett as national outlets were starting to pick him as a breakout player for 2023.
Why not? He and the offense looked different from the first voluntary workouts, throughout camp and it carried over into the preseason. It wasn't just the team wins, it was the accuracy, the chunk plays from the offense in the preseason. None of that was evident during the opening week loss to San Francisco. If anything, it looked like the Steelers offense that struggled to get out of its own way in the first half of 2022.
Some check-down completions in the second half made the numbers look better, Pickett was 31-46 for 232 yards, a touchdown and two interceptions with a QBR of 23.8. Pickett threw for just 61 yards in the first half as the Steelers started with FIVE three-and-outs and deep into the second quarter had one yard of offense.
"The tape is who we are at this juncture," Tomlin said. "And so, we're going to work to change the tape that we have control over. That tapes in the bin. That's his, it's mine, it's ours. Monday night is a little bit different and that's why we're working."
It's that work ethic that Tomlin believes will help change the result Monday against the Browns.
"Just his commitment," Tomlin said. "You know, there's football justice, when you work at it, man, you generally get good things that come out of it. This is a guy that's fully committed. This is a guy that works his tail off and largely man, those guys create their own fortune."
It's why Tomlin believes it can be a quick turn-around for Pickett this week, even against a defense that allowed only 82 passing yards and no touchdowns to Cincinnati and Joe Burrow.
Concussion?
There was speculation after watching the first time Pickett was sacked, his head bounced off the turf. It's a second-year quarterback who went into the concussion protocol twice during his rookie season. Tomlin asked if Pickett was banged up after that play and if he was checked out for a concussion?
"Level of banged up I'm not certain of," Tomlin said. "You know, there's so many protocols in place now, independent medical specialists and so forth. I would imagine the quarterback position has less of my eyes directly than it used to because of it. So, I didn't have direct eyes on what it is that you mentioned. Obviously, I saw it after, but there was no hesitancy from the independent medical experts and so forth."
A relatively long answer to say that Pickett didn't express any symptoms of a concussion, so it was a non-issue for them.
It's only a game into the season and they played against one of the best defenses in the league. New defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz seems to have lit a fire into the Browns defense, what will Pickett show in Week Two?
