Kenny Pickett wants it all. It’s a great attitude to have, but he has to reign it in to develop into a more refined passer. It’s easy to get anxious and throw the ball all over the place, but his completions are down as a result.
The growing pains aren’t anything different than what other young quarterbacks experience.
“He’s very aware of the things that can be better,” Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback coach Mike Sullivan said. “There may be some of those easier completions he can make. Maybe he gets a little greedy at times. It’s not a huge setback or a negative. He just needs to continue to get comfortable.”
The Steelers enter the bye week in a good spot despite their struggles in the first five games. They’re atop the division at 3-2 and knocked off two division rivals in the Cleveland Browns and Baltimore Ravens. In between, there were embarrassing losses to the San Francisco 49ers and Houston Texans. In retrospect, the Niners are one of only two undefeated teams in the NFL and look like a Super Bowl team. And Houston is a far better squad than their reputation with an incredible young second-overall pick in quarterback C.J. Stroud.
“We have to look at what we’ve done as a whole,” Pickett told Steelers media on Tuesday before being dismissed for a five-day break. “There are some things that we’re just not doing well. So if we’re beating our head against the wall, then let’s take it out and not do it. If there is something we feel we can add, then let’s add it. Everything is on the table. It’s having an open mind going into it.”
“We haven’t put together a whole game, and that’s what you’re hunting,” Pickett said. “We’ve definitely shown flashes. We just haven’t been consistent. That’s what we’re fighting to be – a more consistent team.”
Consistency had better be a result of their bye week preparations, as an extensive 12-game span greets them when they return to work on Monday. There are no gimme wins on the remaining schedule for a team like the Steelers, and their first game back is a road trip out to Los Angeles to take on Aaron Donald and the Rams.
