BUFFALO (93.7 The Fan) – The starting returner for the first four games, Steelers Gunner Olszewski won't dress against the Bills on Sunday. No other surprises before the 1p kickoff. Out for today:
QB Mason Rudolph
CB Ahkello Witherspoon
S Terrell Edmunds
G Kendrick Green
DT Isaiahh Loudermilk
LB Mark Robinson
Bills Inactives-both Edmunds brothers will be watching as LB Tremaine Edmunds is out. There are others major contributors:
WR Isaiah McKenzie
WR Jake Kumerow
TE Dawson Knox
OL Justin Murray
CB Christian Benford
Pickett time
A rookie quarterback making his first NFL start playing in arguably the toughest environment in football. Kenny Pickett's teammates aren't worried.
Since the team's first off-season work in May, Pickett has gone about earning the respect of his peers. He wasn't given anything. Steelers Head Coach Mike Tomlin made him the third-string quarterback for all of OTAs and mini-camp, noting the rookie had to beat out the veterans.
Surely it would change in training camp, but it was Trubisky given all but a handful of the first-team reps.
Pickett passed another test in the locker room by just going about his business. He didn't sulk, he didn't backstab and offensive coordinator credited his work on the sidelines during games.
Then when his time came in the second half against the Jets, he got their attention.
"Kenny does a great job, especially for a young quarterback, of commanding the huddle," said Steelers center Mason Cole. "He comes with a sense of urgency and guys are listening to him. That's respectable for a young quarterback. For him to have that maturity is huge. It's like he's been there the whole time."
"I feel like he did what he was supposed to do," said Steelers guard Kevin Dotson. "He did his job and played how the coaches wanted him to play and added his own little bit of flare in there. He just commands the huddle. He's just like, 'hey, let's go' and everybody locks in."
"He embraces it, that's what you want from your quarterback," said Steelers offensive captain Najee Harris. "He was always the same. He's a very focused guy, determined guy, competitor."
"He's the voice of that huddle, he's the guy talking," said Steelers tackle Dan Moore. "We are going to feed off his energy. When he comes in the huddle high energy, we are going to feed off that."
The challenge is greater this week. Not only will the Bills have all week to prepare for him, there is the Bills Mafia and the often deafening noise they make.
"I think we are confident in what Kenny can do," Cole said. "When he came in the second half, we were running our offense. There was no 'we aren't going to run this because we have a rookie quarterback'."
"He's got a lot of confidence in us and that bleeds over through all the position groups. Guys want to be right for him. Guys want to do the right thing for Kenny."
"I think over time as we get more comfortable with him and visa versa," Dotson said. "I just think we will jell more and it will become second nature for us."
"Kenny's played in big environments before, Kenny knows what it's like to be in a big road environment," Cole said.
"Communication will be big. I got no doubt that Kenny will handle it."
"He's got swag," Moore said. "He's got natural leadership qualities. He's competitive. He's not afraid of anything. He's tough."
"I love him."
As Dotson pointed out, that love will only last so long from the fans. He said Pickett's no longer a rookie and expectations are to win, even as a 14-point underdog playing against Josh Allen. He is now the Steelers starting quarterback and the buck stops with him.
"You guys and everyone else think we're underdogs, but we don't," Pickett said. "We're going to go in there with some confidence. We know how great we can be when we're detailed and we execute at a high level."
"I like competing against the best, so I'm excited to go play against one of the best again."
