PITTSBURGH (93.7 The Fan) – In three of the four starts this year, Kenny Pickett doesn't have a quarterback rating above 72 and has as many touchdowns as interceptions. If there is a word that describes where Pickett is looking to improve, it's consistency.
"That's what I'm pushing, to be consistently good," Pickett said Wednesday. "I want to be consistently good, continue to be the guy that these guys can rely on. And it works as a team game. It's the ultimate team game. We get the line, the receivers, the backs, myself to all push the offense where we need to be. But I want to push for, you know, very high-level consistency."
That consistency comes from executing the offense. It just can't be him, all 11 need to do their jobs, but Pickett says he can be better. He said he's got to get the ball out faster. Put the ball in a spot where the receivers can catch it in stride and allow them to make big plays.
An example of getting rid of the ball faster comes from the 4th and 1 play where he was injured. Pickett said he could have pushed the ball out to Calvin Austin quickly. Instead of trying to extend plays with his legs, get rid of the ball decisively.
Pickett said to that point the offense doesn't really need anything more than full focus from the group.
"You know, it seems like that one or two plays here and there we set ourselves behind the chains, whether it's a penalty or some kind of negative play when we get moving, we set ourselves back," Pickett said. "We got to continue to eliminate those."
Pickett admits he, like many others, is frustrated. This is nowhere near where he thought this offense would be, especially after a breakout preseason. But the second-year QB says the answer is to continue to show up, put in the work and play hard on Sundays. He said to get to this level you have to have confidence, so he doesn't believe that's an issue with this group.
While Pickett said there is no secret answer, he does think it sparks the offense when Najee Harris gets going.
"Listen, 22 is our guy," Pickett said. "He runs hard and when he gets going like that, you know, I think you saw the momentum of the offense pick up and we started doing what we know we can do. We just didn't finish in the red zone whether that be the negative plays or not executing where we need to execute. So, getting him going obviously is always something that we want to do early on."
Last season down the stretch when the Steelers won seven of nine games, in the seven wins they had only 210 more passing yards than rushing yards in seven games. In the two losses, they had 373 more yards passing than rushing, in just two games.
While Pickett wants to get the pass game going, he knows they've got to establish that run if they are going to make any run at a playoff season.
