The ushering in of the Kenny Pickett era in Pittsburgh has gotten off to a rocky start.
He is the guy for the Steelers for the foreseeable future, and while that sentiment was inevitable and given all throughout the summer, all throughout training camp, and in the early goings of the season, Mike Tomlin and Matt Canada still relied on Mitch Trubisky to commandeer the offense to begin the season.
All of that changed on Oct. 2, when Tomlin went to the bullpen for his rookie after halftime against the Jets. Two days later, Tomlin stepped to the lectern inside of the UPMC Rooney Sports Complex and declared Pickett the starting quarterback from that point.
But by that point, the Steelers were already reeling. They were 1-3, on a three-game losing streak, and had an offense that was operating through mud while scoring 18.5 points per game.
Pickett was called upon to provide a "spark" for that offense. Since his insertion as the starter, the Steelers have scored just 11.5 points per game in four full games, albeit against three of the NFL's top defenses in Buffalo (three points scored), Tampa Bay (20), and Philadelphia (13). All of this has happened as Pickett has completed 67.9% of his passes for two touchdowns and eight interceptions in the four and a half games.
Now at 2-6 at the bye week, there has been some refreshing acknowledgement from within of Pickett entering a less-than-ideal situation.
"I mean, he's done a really good job of taking the situation we've been in," James Daniels told me. "When he came in, it's been a tough situation. It's a very hard situation. It's hard to come in and play as a rookie, but especially at quarterback, where he has so much control of how the offense operates. I think he's done a really good job of just being professional and showing up every day and trying to improve the offense and also trying to improve himself."
MORE STEELERS
2. What was hard about the situation? I followed up with Daniels for clarification: "One, we were in the middle of a losing streak," he said. "And two, just as I said, as a rookie quarterback. I remember when I was a rookie. It's hard being a rookie offensive lineman, but being a rookie quarterback is even harder. Just that situation, I think that's really hard to come in and it's very hard, but he's done a good job. He's took the most of the opportunity." -- Crisan
3. The "spark" that Pickett was supposed to provide to the offense has come in flashes. The second half of the Jets game was a good start, as he rushed for two touchdowns, but not much of anything else has been there: "Kenny's doing everything he can, and he's putting us in opportunities to be successful," Derek Watt told me. "Just as a whole, it's the whole unit right now. We've just got to find a way to put some points on the board and be effective, obviously, because we're not winning games. We've got to find a way to win games." -- Crisan
4. Watt broke down the touchdown pass he caught from since-traded wide receiver Chase Claypool against Philadelphia: "It's a play we've been running for a while, and finally had the good situation for it," he said. "We got excited when it was called. It was always going to be Chase throwing that ball, so we knew it going into the huddle, and he threw a great ball, executed it perfectly, and we were excited for each other. he threw a touchdown, and I caught a touchdown, so exciting stuff."
5. The bye week can sometimes come at the right time, and sometimes it can come at the wrong time. Tre Norwood is standing right in the middle of that thought: "I wouldn't look at it in the sense like that," Norwood said. "This kind of gives us more time to focus on ourself, what we need to detail, what we need to learn from film-wise, mistakes. This gives us more time to focus on the things that we need to do as a team since we don't have to prepare for a game this weekend. So I think it does benefit us, as the bye week does. I think any time it comes and what-not, just being able to focus, get back to basics -- I think that's the main thing, get back to the basics -- and practice our fundamentals, detailing things out, so when we do come back from the bye, we can continue to elevate for our next opponent." -- Crisan
6. I also gathered Norwood's thoughts on taking the bye week as a way to mentally reset: "It's a thing that I think will benefit us," he said. "I'll continue to reiterate resetting and regrouping and just making sure we're staying together. That's the main thing, know what I mean? Through tough times like this, everybody hates losing, and we have to rally together, be a team, focus on things in this building, not worry about the outside noise, and just put our head down and go to work, and I think that'll be a huge thing for us during this bye week, just making sure that we're putting our head down, going to work, maximizing the extra time that we get leading up to our next game." -- Crisan
7. While I was talking to center Mason Cole this week, I noticed the familiar royal and gold Pitt colors hanging inside of the Michigan alumnus' locker. Upon further investigation, it was a Pickett jersey which Cole told me he had ordered prior to the Backyard Brawl in early September. -- Crisan
8. Cole told me he plans to have a couple of "pops" and watch college football all day on Saturday. Great plan, honestly. -- Crisan
9. As most of you probably saw, Najee Harris was devastated during his postgame meeting with the media surrounding him. After he made some striking comments, including criticism of the team’s lack of accountability, he remained sitting at his locker, still in full uniform, just staring at the floor until near the very end of our time in the room. Najee often takes losses hard, but I’ve never seen him take a loss that hard. -- Chris Halicke in Philadelphia
10. Steven Sims will be stepping into a much bigger role now that Claypool has been traded to Chicago. Even before anybody knew that would happen two days later, I had a chance to talk with Sims after the game in Philadelphia about his increased role in the offense. It comes as no surprise he was ecstatic about the opportunity, and will be looking to make the same type of impact he made in the return game. “Just come in and do what I can to bring energy, to bring a spark, some type of play,” Sims told me. “That’s what I want to do. I’ll be the guy to make the big play if we need it. We didn’t have much luck today. It was tough. But, I enjoyed getting out there with the offense, getting some real reps, running routes. It felt good.” -- Halicke
11. We knew the Steelers were going to run more outside zone schemes this season, and we knew that would take some time to jell. Pittsburgh didn’t run a whole lot of it last season, and there are two new members on the offensive line this year. I had a really good chat with Cole last week about how things are coming along with how this line is gelling with the scheme. He pointed back to his first real introduction to it last year in Minnesota. He talked about how the line there had success with it because they had ran it for a while, and that it took him some time to adapt. “It is different, the way things are supposed to open up in outside zone,” Cole told me. “It was eye-opening. It’s so different. The way things open up, the way things develop, the way you have to block it. There’s definitely a learning curve. -- Halicke
PENGUINS
12. The writing might be on the wall for P.O Joseph to be put on a pairing with Kris Letang full-time. Brian Dumoulin's struggles are legitimate, and he simply can't remain on the first pairing if his performance doesn't improve considerably. Joseph has been playing a decent bit with Letang after the Penguins get off the penalty kill, as Dumoulin and Jan Rutta are typically out there together, and Joseph is playing the best hockey of his career over the past few games. If the trends for both players continue, don't be surprised if a swap is made. Joseph and Letang have logged 24 minutes together at even-strength this season. -- Danny Shirey at PPG Paints Arena
13. Teddy Blueger is eligible to return from long-term injured reserve as early as Saturday against the Kraken, and there's hope from the coaching staff and management that he'll be ready to play then. Injured players don't generally travel for regular-season games -- Jeff Carter didn't travel to Buffalo, for example. Blueger, however, did travel to Buffalo, which seems like an encouraging sign. There was no morning skate because of the back-to-back, but having Blueger around the team for the pre-game meetings and wanting him to see the games in-person would seem to indicate that they anticipate him playing soon. -- Taylor Haase in Buffalo, N.Y.
14. The locker room has been pretty understandably dejected after these last few losses. After a couple of the road games on this losing streak there has been a child or another deserving person invited down to outside the Penguins' locker room after the game to meet Sidney Crosby. As disappointing as the losses have been, Crosby immediately flips the switch and puts on a smile to go out and give them a special moment. He'll make an effort to really connect with whoever it is, and he'll ask kids all kinds of questions about their lives, spending upward of 10 minutes sometimes with them after the game. He'll send them on their way with a signed stick, too. It can't be easy to switch right into that mode after a tough loss, but Crosby seems to really care about making those interactions as positive as possible. -- Haase
15. It's no secret that Evgeni Malkin isn't a fan of speaking with reporters -- he makes that pretty known. If a player really wants to avoid speaking after a game, he can usually make sure he's out of the locker room before it's open to reporters. Some players do take advantage of that opportunity to make themselves sparse. But as much as I'm sure Malkin would like to avoid talking, he has stepped up and stayed in the locker room to answer for some of the bad loses as of late. He spoke and provided insightful answers after the games in both Buffalo and Vancouver in the current losing streak, as well as the rough overtime loss in Montreal shortly before the western road trip. -- Haase
16. Is there such a thing as overconfidence with this group? It really is a wonder as to why the Penguins have struggled to put together complete performances this season. They seemingly know what they need to do, they say all the right things about taking lessons from each game, and it isn't as if many of their veteran players aren't well aware of what's necessary to win consistently. Marcus Pettersson told me earlier this week that "every team (in the NHL) is so good," making it difficult to control a game for its entirety, but that doesn't explain the Penguins' failure to do so at all of late. -- Shirey
17. The signing of Dustin Tokarski as the team's No. 3 goaltender is already looking like a massive upgrade over Louis Domingue. Wilkes-Barre/Scranton has been dominant to start the season with a league-best 6-0-1 record, and Tokarski has been a big part of that. His 1.38 goals-against average is the best in the league, and his .949 save percentage ranks fourth. Tokarski's teammates have talked about how his play radiates confidence throughout their lineup -- they haven't been as tight defensively as they would have liked in some of those wins, but Tokarski is there to bail them out. When I spoke with Tokarski at training camp he sounded intent on competing for a spot on the NHL roster. With the Penguins' current cap-crunch it's hard to see how Tokarski might get that opportunity anytime soon, but he could make things interesting as the season goes on if he keeps playing this way and DeSmith struggles. -- Haase
18. 2022 seventh-round pick, center Luke Devlin, is playing in the British Columbia Hockey League this season before he plays at Cornell next season. Through 10 games, he has a goal and five assists, as well as seven penalty minutes. Devlin told me his season got off to a good start, but he was suspended for three games after standing up for one of his teammates and roughing up another player. The three games out of the lineup have thrown him out of his groove a bit, but he's confident he'll be back on track in short order. -- Shirey
PIRATES
19. Roberto Pérez recently gave an interview in Puerto Rico where he confirmed DK's and my's reporting that there is mutual interest between himself and the Pirates for a reunion. He also said he wants a multi-year deal. Of course it's different to want an offer and to get an offer, but it makes absolutely no sense for the Pirates to sign him for multiple years with Henry Davis and Endy Rodriguez waiting in the wings. If they need to go back to Jason Delay and/or Tyler Heineman, they will because they think very highly of their defense. Frankly, I don't know if any team would give Pérez a multi-year contract, but I don't blame him for wanting one, especially since he's two years away from reaching 10 years of service and earning a fully vested pension. -- Alex Stumpf at PNC Park
20. Ben Cherington has often said defense is an area where players can get better simply by putting in the work. I watched Oneil Cruz take plenty of extra one-on-one defense practice, but the results weren't there in 2022. There's a defensive transition to the majors too, so don't write off Cruz at shortstop. Maybe Mendy López, a new addition to the coaching staff who is believed to help out with the infield defense, is the type of voice Cruz needs. -- Stumpf
21. The Pirates on the market for a minor-league manager. No word what level they are looking for, but I theorized last year that Kieran Mattison and MIguel Pérez, the Class AA and AAA managers, respectively, are potential big-league coaches. Mattison spent some time around the big club at the end of the season, too. Considering the number of prospects who should reach the majors in 2023, adding someone to the MLB staff who managed those prospects in the minors could be beneficial. -- Stumpf
