Tim Benz: A lesson for Steelers and the growth of Kenny Pickett after Week 1 of NFL playoffs
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Whoever the Pittsburgh Steelers have as offensive coordinator next year — whether it’s Matt Canada again or someone (anyone) else — I hope they were watching the first round of the AFC playoffs closely.
Because there was one specific, valuable lesson for the Steelers to take away from those games: It’s OK to live with the occasional mistake from your quarterback, so long as your quarterback can make up for it.
If Steelers quarterback Kenny Pickett can’t do that, then he shouldn’t have been taken 20th in the draft.
Now that he has his rookie season under his belt, it is time to let Pickett demonstrate that he wasn’t just drafted to manage games, but that he was drafted to win playoff games.
Something this franchise hasn’t done in six years.
I couldn’t help but notice some of the erratic play of the AFC quarterbacks over Super Wild Card Weekend.
• The Jacksonville Jaguars beat the Los Angeles Chargers 31-30 despite Trevor Lawrence’s four interceptions.
• Josh Allen committed three turnovers, but the Buffalo Bills still managed to hold off the Miami Dolphins 34-31.
• That massive underdog Miami team stayed in that game against Buffalo despite two interceptions from third-stringer Skylar Thompson.
All of those turnovers certainly weren’t optimal. Yet, those teams scored points in games where lots of scoring was necessary.
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Meanwhile, Kenny Pickett’s best attribute in the eight full games he played after the bye is how well he protected the ball.
That’s not a backhanded compliment. For a rookie learning his way through the NFL, it’s certainly praiseworthy to point out that Pickett went from eight interceptions in his first five appearances to just one in his last eight full games.
That covered 224 attempts. That number doesn’t even count all the dropbacks, where he tucked the ball and ran, or ate a sack (15 in the last eight games) instead of forcing a bad pass.
Speaking of taking hits, despite all the concern about his small hands, Pickett ran the ball 55 times and absorbed 27 sacks while only losing one fumble.
The Pitt product deserves a tip of the cap for all of those numbers, as does the coaching staff for putting him in a position to avoid excess risk.
However, there’s a downside to avoiding risk. It’s narrowing the chances for big plays.
Whatever Canada, head coach Mike Tomlin and the rest of the offensive coaches had hoped for in terms of chewing up yards with runs after the catch or steady offensive efficiency leading to points, it didn’t happen.
• Pickett’s 6.2 yards per attempt and seven touchdowns on the season were good for just 33rd in the NFL in both categories.
• The Steelers’ overall points per game output of 18.1 was tied for 26th in football. That’s despite executing the fifth-most snaps in the league at 1,153 (pass, rush and penalties), leading the NFL in average plays per drive at 6.5 and being fifth in time of possession (31:18).
• The Steelers had only 44 passing plays of 20 yards or more, tied with the Cleveland Browns for 23rd in the league. With just three passing plays of 40-plus yards, they were tied for last with the Arizona Cardinals and Jaguars.
• Their red-zone touchdown percentage of 51.9 was 22nd in the NFL. Their yards per play of 4.9 put them at 27th.
During his season-ending press conference, Tomlin seemed to imply that Pickett’s rookie status and the surrounding youth of others on offense required the patient, conservative approach witnessed in 2022.
“What you saw from us was what was appropriate, particularly over the second half of the year, in an effort to engineer victory,” Tomlin said. “As we move forward, we’re continually trying to get better in all areas. Does that shape and affect your personality? It does, … but it’s our job as coaches to do what’s required to engineer victory.”
Engineering more victories than nine may require an offense that rolls the dice more often and hunts for chunk plays more frequently.
As painful as those playoff turnovers were for coaches on the sidelines of those games last weekend, some of that risk is necessary for the reward of breaking the 30-point barrier. That’s something the Steelers did just one time in 2023, and it was a 37-30 loss at home to the Cincinnati Bengals.
But keep in mind the Steelers have a $108 million defense which led the NFL with 20 interceptions this year. It’s capable of getting the ball back if Pickett gives it away more often in 2023. It should be able to withstand a few more turnovers from its offense. Once the schedule softened up after the bye, that unit only allowed 16.5 points per game over the last nine contests.
The Steelers spent much of 2022 teaching Pickett how to avoid mistakes. Now he must be allowed to illustrate that he can make up for them when they happen. If he can’t, then the front office will have to reevaluate if he was the right guy to replace Ben Roethlisberger.
But starting next year, Pickett has to get some more rope to prove that he is.