Coming into the 2022 season, the Pittsburgh Steelers find themselves undefined at the quarterback position for the first time since 2004. That’s the year in which the team selected Ben Roethlisberger out of Miami (Ohio) with the 11th overall pick in that draft. Roethlisberger spent the next 18 season establishing a Hall of Fame resume, but with his retirement, the Steelers are looking to replace him in every possible way.
There’s Mason Rudolph, on the roster since the Steelers took him out of Oklahoma State in the third round of the 2018 draft. There’s former Bears first-round pick and Bills backup Mitch Trubisky, signed to a two-year, $14.3 million contract with $5.25 million guaranteed. And there’s Pitt alum Kenny Pickett, selected with the 20th pick in the 2022 draft.
That’s a lot of moving parts, and not a lot of definition at the game’s most important position. Through two preseason games, Pickett has muddied the waters for anyone who thought that Trubisky would be the de facto starter.
Right now, Pickett has a 142.5 quarterback rating with only three incompletions and three touchdowns on only 22 dropbacks.
Not only did Pickett understand and exploit his pre-snap reads, but he played with great anticipation and trusted his receivers to make plays; especially in the two-minute drive before the half last week against the Jacksonville Jaguars.
Let’s dive into the film to break down why Pickett is making the starting quarterback position a battle in the Steelers’ camp!
Pickett's two-minute drive set him apart.
On top of Pickett’s overall calm demeanor, there were three different skillsets that jumped out when watching his two-minute drive against the Jaguars: Pre-snap reads, anticipation and poise.
Let’s start with anticipation.
On first-and-10 on their own 44-yard line, the Steelers lined up in a 3×1 spread look with a one-on-one matchup on the outside. Johnson was running a slant over the middle. Pickett knows that Johnson will make his cut inside when the linebacker goes out to cover the flat.
What stood out was how Pickett anticipated his receiver’s break and didn’t wait for him to be open before he let go of the ball. Pickett throws his receiver open allowing him to use his speed to gain a few extra yards after the catch.
On the very next play, this is where Pickett shows his patience and poise when in the pocket.
Towards the bottom of the screen, the two receivers on the inside are running an Ohio route concept. This will open the inside receiver as the outside-slot clears out the nickel defender (who has the underneath responsibility).
Once again, Pickett moves the ball another 10 yards (with defenders in his face) giving his offense a new set of downs where they end up spiking the ball in order to stop the clock.
On the third play of this drive, Pickett is getting pressure from the Jaguars’ defense line (again), but still remains poised in the pocket. Since there is a blitz coming from the left side, and the Steelers were in trips to the left side, Picket can play the numbers game.
Pickett uses every possible second in the pocket when throwing his tight-end open over the middle. This was one of the most impressive throws of the night because it showed his ability to remain poise during a blitz, examine the defense post-snap, his anticipation, and ball placement. Trubisky only showed a few of those key attributes on a similar play call, and we’ll get to that later on.
Even though the next play ended up getting scratched due to penalties by both teams, the throw was still worth showing.
Since the Jaguars are in man coverage while in red zone, Pickett decides to use the numbers game and put the ball where only his receiver can get it since he was one-on-one. The placement here was perfect.
On the very last play of the drive, the Steelers use motion to ensure man coverage. Once again Pickett looks at the uneven defense and decides that because the Jaguars defenders are lined up so far inside, he lets his running back win the leverage game in a foot race to the endzone.
Trubisky was up-and-down in response.
Overall, Trubisky showed some hesitation but also showed great recovery after some miscues. In his eight drop backs, there were two sets of plays where he had good reads and ball placement when redeeming himself from the play prior.
Here, the Steelers were calling route concepts towards the right sideline.
In both clips the inside slot runs a corner route and is open but Trubisky hesitates and ends up opening the play but overthrows his receiver.
On the next play, which is a similar play call, this time the concept is a smash-route, and the outside receiver sells the go-route which prevented a switch, leaving the corner-route open.
Trubisky makes a great recovery to move the chains.
In the video below, we have two back-to-back plays. In the first clip, Trubisky gets pressure when waiting for the play to develop and ends up taking a sack.
When watching that first clip from the endzone angle, if Trubisky would have had a sense of urgency, he could have gotten the ball out to Chase Claypool over the middle.
But Trubisky recovers well on the next play. Once he gets to the back of the pocket, he hits Dionte Johnson over the middle.
The placement is good enough to gain a few yards after the catch as well. If there is one thing that both quarterbacks show, its great placement giving their receivers an opportunity to catch on the run.
Trubisky vs Pickett
On Trubisky’s last play against the Jaguars, the Steelers lined up in a 3×1 look with bunch on the right side.
This was a very similar look to the one that Pickett saw during his two-minute drive before the half, as both plays were in similar situations, both were on third-and-10.
The design was to attack the middle of the field since the Jaguars defense was lined up in a blanket coverage over the top.
When Trubisky ran the play, he checked it down to the running back on the outside, which ended up being his last throw of the night.
Here is a similar design with the trips bunch on the open side of the field with the receiver at the top of the bunch hitting the seam route, but this time, he gets the ball from Pickett.
When comparing both quarterbacks, Pickett seems to be winning when it comes to his poise in the pocket when facing pressure. He doesn’t hesitate and trusts his eyes (as most rookie quarterbacks do when facing basic looks). Even though there was some hesitation from Trubisky when seeing open receivers, its positive that he recovered quickly. He also showed that he can take chances and also keep drives alive with his legs when the Steelers offensive line gets beat off the snap.
People hated on this video when Mitch hit his WR in the hands 😭 pic.twitter.com/OVfAYX5vP2
— Joseph Herff (@JosephHerffNFL) August 22, 2022
We can’t ignore the fact that this was still a dangerous throw by Trubisky and in the end, Pickett was the one who put points on the board for his team. Keep in mind that both quarterbacks were facing the Jaguars starting defensive line. Pickett just showed better poise and quicker decision making.
Conclusion
The Steelers play their final preseason game on Sunday afternoon against the Detroit Lions. Here is what Tomlin had to say about the quarterback competition when asked about it after last week’s game.
“A lot of spots are going to come down to this work. This work is weighted differently, and appropriately so. The in-stadium work is significant, and increasingly so with the more stadium exposure you get. So, make no mistake, this is a significant game for a lot of people.”
Right now, we are unsure if Trubisky is going to have to prove this weekend that he deserves the starting spot. If so, pay attention to the similarities in the play calls for both quarterbacks when they are facing similar situations. Even though Trubisky might be winning the race now, doesn’t mean he will be by the start of the season. Tomlin has always said this is a quarterback competition and if there is one thing that Pickett has showed us so far, it’s that he deserves that chance to compete.
As of right now, it’s Trubisky’s spot to lose, but Pickett is clearly on the rise.
