It's a big week for Kenny Pickett. After making his first NFL appearance last week, his impact on the offense gave Mike Tomlin the confidence to hand the reins of the offense over to the rookie quarterback. He'll be the guy under center Sunday afternoon in Orchard Park, N.Y.
Wednesday is the customary day for the starting quarterback to speak at the UPMC Rooney Sports Complex. So, after practice concluded, Pickett trotted down the hallway to the locker room, swapped his helmet for a Steelers cap and made his way through a larger-than-normal media mob to answer questions in front of the team backdrop.
Pickett's the first quarterback taken by this franchise in the first round since Ben Roethlisberger. A large crowd of cameras and reporters waiting to sound off with their barrage of questions may sound like a lot for a rookie quarterback.
But hey, it comes with the job. And if Wednesday is any indication of whether or not he is ready to not only live up to but exceed the hype surrounding him, he just might have what it takes.
Very early in the session, Pickett fielded a question regarding how the Steelers can walk into Buffalo and avoid a disastrous 1-4 record as 14-point underdogs against the Bills. His answer embodies and personifies the "spark" that Tomlin was seeking when the offense was dying under Mitch Trubisky.
"I would say it's the attitude in which you go about it," Pickett said. "You guys and everyone else thinks we're underdogs. We don't."
That attitude is exactly what the Steelers need. Not only on offense, but as an entire team.
Listen, words can be spoken by anyone. And we all know they mean very little when they aren't backed up. But the rest of the session with Pickett revealed more about why this guy was so valued by Tomlin, Kevin Colbert and the Steelers' front office during the draft process.
Specifically, Pickett revealed more about the type of leader he can be. Tomlin brought Pickett in to begin the second half to "spark" the offense. But is it possible to recreate that spark in practice? What about next week? There won't be more than 60,000 fans chanting "KEN-NY, KEN-NY, KEN-NY." No, it will be a rambunctious, hostile Buffalo crowd that just got done breaking more tables in the parking lot than WWE or AEW do in a month.
So when that spark can't be recreated, how can his presence in the huddle and on the football field elevate this offense?
"Doing my job at a high level, playing with energy, but at the same time, I don’t like to get too high or too low," Pickett said. "I know I show some emotion out there. On Sunday, I felt like we needed it. It’s really reading the room, read the situation and fit the kind of leadership style that needs to be fit. That’s really what I’ll take from it, and be myself on Sunday."
Tomlin talked about Pickett's maturity during his Tuesday press conference. And if you needed proof of it, it's right there in that quote.
That won't do much in preventing the hype from ballooning out of control. Before anyone wants to crown Pickett as the savior of the 2022 Steelers, remember there are many more issues with this team than a dying offense needing new life. For starters, the defense can't stop the opposition in the fourth quarter, and now seven members of that defense are on this week's injury report.
But, Pickett wasn't drafted to help the team win in 2022. He was drafted because the Steelers believe he can be the next franchise quarterback who can help them compete year in and year out. That process begins now, and the impressions that he's the right guy have reverberated throughout the locker room.
Diontae Johnson has caught passes from a few different quarterbacks in his career, including a future Hall of Famer in Roethlisberger. I asked him what makes Pickett unique from any other quarterback he's played with.
"He's hungry. He plays with a swag. A lot of guys respect him," Johnson told me. "Just the way he handles himself and carries himself."
It's not easy for a rookie to do that. Especially before they've even made one career start. And it surely won't be easy for this team to try and turn the season around from a 1-3 start. But, under Pickett, this offense stands a chance to not only build off some tangible successes, but grow together and create new ones.
"I want to raise the level of play of everyone around me, but we have so many great players," Pickett said. "I've got to do my job. I have 100 percent trust and confidence that every guy in that huddle will do their job. I was just raised that way. Everyone's just got to own their business and own their job, and we'll be alright."
MORE FROM THE SOUTH SIDE
• Pickett was also asked about how Mitch Trubisky has handled being benched and how supportive he's been as a teammate since Tomlin made the switch at quarterback.
"Mitch is one of the best teammates I've come across," Pickett said. "I'm extremely grateful to have him in this room. I supported him a ton when he was in there and he'll do the same for me. That will continue. We're definitely great friends, on the field and off the field. That's going to be someone I'm going to lean on throughout this experience and he's been nothing but great to me."
• I've seen Trubisky and Pickett walking into the locker room together at the beginning of the day, laughing and joking with one another as they make their way to their lockers, which only stand several feet apart. It's no surprise to hear either one talk highly of the other.
• The Steelers are pretty banged up right now, and it's all on the defensive side of the ball. Minkah Fitzpatrick (knee), Terrell Edmunds (concussion) and Ahkello Witherspoon (hamstring) did not practice Wednesday. Cam Heyward (elbow/ankle), Cam Sutton (groin), Levi Wallace (foot) and Chris Wormley (ankle) were limited participants.
Pickett being the starting quarterback doesn't solve all of the Steelers' problems. This defense is struggling mightily without T.J. Watt, and now their depth is really going to be put to the test. Even if the majority of these guys play, they won't be 100 percent. Given Heyward's performance thus far, and the way he's looked in the locker room after games, I'm convinced he's been playing at less than 100 percent most of the season.
There are still two more practices to go before the final injury report comes out, and the Steelers will want to take their time with vital players like Fitzpatrick. We'll keep a very close eye on all of the injured players for you.
• Speaking of the struggles on defense, I had a chat with Wormley about the fourth-quarter collapse against the Jets. The defense was unable to preserve a 20-10 lead provided by Pickett and the offense in the second half. He echoed a lot of the same words spoken by Heyward after the game, saying the three levels of the defense weren't able to execute simultaneously on key plays.
"It was us making little mistakes," Wormley told me. "If we just would've been in the right position, they wouldn't have had those big chunk plays that allowed them to score those two touchdowns."
• There's also been some attention about whether the defense was unable to properly thwart the Jets' second-half adjustments. Wormley refused to shift the blame from the defense's lack of execution
"That's what's frustrating. When you lose to a team, it's not like they beat you. We beat ourselves. They're not winning the game. We're more-so losing the game. That's what we kind of saw those last two drives," Wormley told me. "There was nothing mystical or magical, like they're wizards over there or anything like that. It's just a couple of plays that could have happened during the game that could have really changed things."
• Wallace played for the Bills for the previous four seasons. Of course, any time there's a player in the locker room that used to play for the upcoming opponent, they'll always field questions on how much intel they can share to aid the game plan for the week.
"They change their schemes a lot," Wallace said. "You never know what to expect, especially with Coach [Leslie] Frazier, Sean [McDermott] -- they do a great job scheming. ... We played the Steelers a bit different every year. I can't really tell exactly how they're going to play us this year."
• Calvin Austin returned to practice Wednesday after sitting out the minimum four games on injured reserve. All signs are pointing to a return soon. The only question is how soon?
"I feel good. At this point it's just continuing to perform out there on the field and wait for Coach Tomlin's word," Austin said. "I've been feeling good for a minute, but you never know until you can actually get out there and practice in a competitive environment, and block and all this stuff. You can never just do that outside with trainers. I think the timing was right. Everything worked out to this moment right here. This is the best I've felt."
Austin is still technically on IR, but Wednesday started the 21-day clock for the Steelers to either activate and add him to the 53-man roster or leave him on IR for the remainder of the season. From the look of it, there would have to be a dramatic setback in order for the latter to take place.
• Damontae Kazee would have also eligible to return to practice this week, but he is still serving a five-game suspension for violating the NFL's substance abuse policy. He will be eligible to return after Sunday's game against the Bills.
• Tomlin does not have a lot of faith in Gunner Olszewski in the return game right now. Even thought Olszewski is listed as the primary kick and punt returner on the depth chart, I asked Steven Sims if he had been informed about possibly getting time as the returner against the Bills, and he told me he'll be the first man up.
"I'm excited. I can't wait," Sims told me. "This is what I've been working for."
