Play-action pass is an excellent way to ease young quarterbacks into the pro game, and Matt Canada is weaving the concept more into Kenny Pickett‘s repertoire. So far, it’s working.
Its use is a departure from his rookie season when less than four per game were attempted.
Buy Steelers TicketsAnd Kenny likes it.
“I love it, especially with Najee back there,” Pickett said on Not Just Football with Cam Heyward in July. “There’s a give-and-take to it. If you have a really good run game, you can trust that the fake’s gonna do what it needs to do to set up everything else. But if the run game’s not too good and those guys don’t step up, that’s where I can see it being a problem.”
Pickett was 3-of-5 on play-action passes in the Steelers’ Week 2 win over the Cleveland Browns. 94 of Pickett’s 222 passing yards came off two play-action completions to George Pickens, including the 71-yard bomb.
The Steelers succeeded with it against the Las Vegas Raiders because they never abandoned the ground game — 27 run attempts were made between Najee Harris and Jaylen Warren.
“Yeah, it was great seeing that work together, the run game got going, and then we hit some play-action passes,” Harris said via Nick Farabaugh of Steelers Now.
It was play-action that led to the 13-yard touchdown to Pat Freiermuth. Per PFF premium (subscription), after going 6-for-8 on 61 yards, a touchdown and four first downs, Pickett’s passer rating utilizing it was 135.4.
We’ll see if it continues. Unfortunately, the Raiders’ defense is one of the worst in the NFL and actually moved up two spots after their loss to Pittsburgh. How often they incorporate it into each week will be dictated by their opponent and how balanced they are offensively.
