For some in the Steelers' broader Nation, the summer-long trial of Kenny Pickett v. Mitch Trubisky had become akin to modern political theater. Meaning stances were entrenched so long ago they might not even recall why and, since they'd already chosen, they couldn't conceivably change up.
For others, at least per overstated portrayals, it's been about being a Pitt fan. Or hating Pitt.
And for a hardy few, I dare say, it's been -- or ought to be -- about acknowledging and accepting, based on actual historical precedent and actual information that morphs over time ... that Kenny Pickett's faring just fine as an NFL rookie quarterback.
Because he is.
"It’s been really impressive," Mike Tomlin was saying Tuesday at the UPMC Rooney Sports Complex of Pickett's progress, and he wasn't just referring to the 20-10 doubling up of the Saints two days earlier at Acrisure Stadium. "I think his general growth, if you ask me to summarize the rate of growth and the range of growth, it’s been really impressive in all areas. And I think it’s reasonable to expect it to continue."
He should. They all should.
I've got precious little use for the first two categories up there, so allow me, please, to flush those first.
Politics ... man, one can't so much as start a civil conversation on inflation -- a purely economic subject matter in every way, shape or form -- without being barraged by one party's view or the other. And that's universal anymore. So when I see, hear or read anyone labeling themselves as a 'Kenny guy,' or 'a Mitch guy,' I tune out instantly. Because it's all about to be reduced to two cement walls, a spectacular waste of everyone's time.
The Pitt-fan thing, to be equally blunt, means almost as little. Listen, I'd genuinely love to see the Pitt football program mean a fraction as much to the general public as those who support the Panthers would want it to. But that needle barely budged even when Kenny carried the Panthers to an ACC championship, whether weighing attendance, ratings, whatever. So when I see, hear or read a fan framing the current arguments as being about Pitt fans ... wow, no. Respectfully, there just aren't enough of those to have that level of influence.
But for all the rest, I've got some ideally impartial Kenny observations of my own I'm keen on sharing, and I'll splat them out here in no particular order and from no particular perspective:
• He hasn't been great. Anyone arguing that to the contrary should find fresh interests in life.
Through parts of six NFL games -- he missed half of two of those, so it's really more like five -- he's thrown for 1,161 yards, an average of 193.5 that ranks 25th among quarterbacks who've played at least as much as he has. No figure's more relevant at his position, and that's in the league's lower third, obviously.
• He's been picked off eight times, sacked 18 times, and he's got only two passing touchdowns as offsets. Even worse.
• He's got a QB rating of 68.8 that ranks 32nd in a 32-team league among quarterbacks who've played at least as much as he has.
And that alone, I'd bet, will be enough to stop reading this column altogether, call Kenny a bust and call it a day. But for those who'd care to continue, my list of what's there to like is a lot longer and, as I see it, a lot more compelling:
• His 66.7 completion percentage is tied for eighth in the league with the Cardinals' Kyler Murray. He's connected on 130 of 195 passes, and this despite a young offensive line that's often forcing him from the pocket, despite a wide receiving corps that entered the past weekend with the league's worst rate of separation, despite an offensive coordinator who ... eh, let's not stray down that path again today.
• Getting a bit advanced here, his completion percentage above expected, which assesses passes that were completed against the odds, is a 2.0, fourth-best in the league. The only names ahead of him are this newly immortal version of Geno Smith, as well as Tua Tagovailoa, Jalen Hurts and Joe Burrows. Decent company there.
• Pickett's yardage wouldn't be anywhere near as unattractive if he'd been allowed to throw deep. Let's not insult anyone's intelligence on this one with statistics, since we all saw Matt Canada's first go-ball routes of the season make a cameo debut in Philadelphia, then finally emerge against New Orleans:
Kenny hadn't been allowed to throw deep. He hadn't been allowed to throw over the middle. He wasn't granted George Pickens as a primary target. He had virtually no running game. His receivers were assigned route trees that'd be rejected by the Allderdice JV. But here I go down that path.
• Anyone perpetuating the myth that Kenny's got some noodle arm -- wherever that even started -- needs to go back and read his scouting reports from the past spring, most of which cited him as having an above-average arm in exactly that terminology. Or that part of what made him most attractive at Pitt was his propensity for both accuracy and distance in converting deep. He's not Patrick Mahomes, but this myth deserves a gory death sooner rather than later.
• More than half of Pickett's sacks this season have come on big-time blown assignments up front. Like the one Sunday where Dan Moore and Kevin Dotson got crossed up on a stunt and allowed him to get pulverized from behind. Two others against the Saints, by my count, were coverage sacks. Another saw a cornerback blitzing unblocked. The other two saw Dotson lose right away one-on-one, then Chuks Okorafor get bull-rushed. As with everything in life, context is critical.
• I found it fascinating after the game that, when I'd mentioned to a high-ranking team exec that the offense overall appeared to take a stride, he immediately pointed toward Pickett's stall and singled out the six times he threw the ball away:
A few minutes earlier, this also was the first concept to come from Tomlin right after the game. No accident, either, as that'd been the primary focus over two weeks of prep.
• Rookie quarterbacks are like this. In his own first six games, Burrow had four interceptions and 17 sacks. In Tagovailoa's first four games, he had five interceptions and 10 sacks. In Hurts' first give games, he had four interceptions and 13 sacks. And I could rewind this all the way to Terry Bradshaw if anyone would like.
There's a chasm between college and the NFL that casual football followers don't often grasp, and it takes time even for the No. 1 overall types to adjust.
• I asked Tomlin after the game to share his thoughts on the running game that out-of-nowhere produced 217 yards and, rather than cite Najee Harris, Jaylen Warren or anyone other individual, he replied, "Quarterback mobility is a component of it. I thought Kenny did some good things with his legs." Which he did, with eight official carries for 51 yards and the game-winning touchdown in the fourth quarter:
How defined was that schematic?
"I think there's just a little feel to it," he'd explain. "The previous sneaks, I felt they were really crashing the A-gaps, and I think if I side-stepped a little bit, I could get around it, get in the B-gap, and no one would be there. So I took the snap, paused for a second, felt where it was at and was able to get in."
Instinct. Football player.
Maybe it's been so long since we've had a running quarterback in Pittsburgh that we've forgotten to value it, but Kenny's cumulative production to date -- 27 carries, 159 yards, a 5.5 average, three touchdowns and 13 first downs -- isn't a luxury in the modern NFL, an emphasis Tomlin's made multiple times over the calendar year.
• And speaking of winning and touchdowns, although Pickett took care to credit Canada for this clever hurry-up inside handoff to Pickens ...
... it was Pickens who, upon the Steelers reaching the New Orleans 1, whisked everyone to the line, waving his arms and barking out the play.
• If what matters most in this scenario is progress, then consider the progress within what'd been widely considered Kenny's principal intangible: He's engineered a fair amount of winning in his life.
After a dud of a first half Sunday, in which he misfired on a handful of passes, he'd go 7 of 11 for 108 yards the rest of the way. And in the fourth quarter, with the score 10-10, he'd lead an 11-play, 83-yard drive -- he was 3 of 3 for 56 of those yards, including that arc to Johnson -- that brought a field goal, then an eight-play, 44-yard drive for his touchdown.
"I thought it was a step in the right direction," he'd say of the result. "Feels awesome. You put your whole life into this. Coming out with a win feels awesome."
That's the trait. That's the winning. And that's something we do recognize around here.
Or should.
