After typical work week, Kenny Pickett eager to start again for Steelers
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His pro debut came at halftime of a game after a dispute of some level between his team’s star receiver and its previous starting quarterback.
His first start was on the road at the Super Bowl favorites.
The result was a 38-3 loss.
Then, during the third quarter of his first home start, Kenny Pickett was hit hard enough to leave the game with a concussion.
Quite a start to the NFL career for Kenny Pickett, no?
“It happens, man, adversity,” Pickett said after the Pittsburgh Steelers practiced Friday. “Adversity all over the place: inside of football, outside of football. You just have to roll with the punches.”
Pickett rolled with the flow all week, proceeding as normal at UPMC Rooney Sports Complex and practicing fully. As such, by Friday afternoon he’d been cleared by medical personnel and is on track to start Sunday’s 8:20 p.m. game at the Miami Dolphins.
“Went through it with the doctors and the medical staff,” Pickett said, confirming he will start Sunday. “People fly in here to go to these doctors, so I know they’re the best in the country, and I feel great with where I’m at going into Sunday.
“I feel great now, which is all that matters.”
QB1 is talking to us again pic.twitter.com/pp5sIpWWwO
— Chris Adamski (@C_AdamskiTrib) October 21, 2022
Pickett will make his second road NFL start at the venue where Ben Roethlisberger made his first (it’s now called Hard Rock Stadium).
Pickett, however, was credited with his first win as a starter during this past Sunday’s home game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, even if he did not play the final 22 minutes and was forced to watch from the locker room as Mitch Trubisky led the offense down the stretch to a touchdown and an impressive time-killing, game-clinching drive.
“It’s tough. You obviously want to be out there,” Pickett said. “You put in a lot of work throughout the week, (so) you want go out there and finish the day. But I trust what the doctors are telling me. That’s what they were advising me to do and want me to do, so I follow their lead. And now I am good to go this week.
“Maybe if I had finished the game, I wouldn’t have done as well throughout this week of practice.”
Teammates confirmed what could be ascertained from the windows of media viewing in the locker room: Pickett had his usual demeanor, and he went through his typical weekly routine.
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“Kenny was fine,” tight end Pat Freiermuth said. “Did his normal thing.”
Said running back Najee Harris: “Normal week for us, work-wise.”
By the end of it, the medical personnel did what coach Mike Tomlin on Tuesday predicted they would, clearing Pickett to start.
“It was kind of understood that as I was going through it, obviously if I wasn’t feeling that good or if it wasn’t going the way we expected it to go, then I probably wouldn’t have played this week,” Pickett said. “But I didn’t have any setbacks. I felt great going through everything, so I am confident and excited for Sunday.”
The offensive production over the small sample size with Pickett playing has been middling: 30 points in eight quarters. But Pickett in his first two starts led the Steelers on scoring drives during their first offensive possession each time. The Steelers hadn’t done that since November of last season and had scored only three offensive points in the first quarter of Trubisky’s four starts.
“It’s just more emphasis in practice going through the plays that we’re going to have, having multiple reps of certain plays, with timing and guys and knowing what we want,” Pickett said. “(Offensive coordinator Matt Canada) did a great job of calling the right plays and the right looks, and we executed. That’s just how it has to be moving forward.”
Moving forward, it will be with Pickett at quarterback, after his week of practice commenced without incident.
“It was just kind of keeping myself doing what I was doing to see if I felt anything different or how I was feeling out there playing,” Pickett said. “That’s kind of what they recommended, and I felt great going through my routine and playing. If I didn’t, obviously, I wouldn’t have been out there. I communicated with the doctors and felt good, though.”
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