Patience is an acquired trait in my opinion. Some believe you either have it or you don’t but I truly believe you can learn to have more – or in some cases less. I myself have learned to have more patience the older I’ve gotten but I still have a limit and Sunday that limit was reached. I have officially run out of patience with Kenny Pickett and it’s not all his fault.
Pickett played one of the league’s best defenses yesterday. He figured that out on his very first play when Myles Garrett nearly ate him for lunch. Pickett would finish the day 15/28 for 106 yards. That’s an average of 3.8 yards per attempt. I’m sorry but I don’t care if you’re playing the 1970’s Steel Curtain, you have to do better than that. He has two very high quality receivers in Diontae Johnson and George Pickens who by now are sick and tired of running the same routes over and over. I’d say they’ve run out of patience too. And so too has Najee Harris.
I stated above that this isn’t all on Pickett and it isn’t. His rapid regression falls on the shoulders of both Mike Tomlin and Matt Canada. They’ve taken a guy who was aggressive and willing to push the ball down the field despite not having a big-time arm. Now, Pickett rarely uses the middle of the field, throws low risk passes to the sideline or dumps it off to his running backs. Pat Freiermuth, a second round draft pick who returned yesterday from injury had one target and it was on a tight end screen. How in the world do you not use him over the middle and you know??? HELP YOUR QUARTERBACK!
Instead, Pickett has become a shell of his former self. There’s no swagger and there’s no enthusiasm either. He looks like a defeated man. I’ve seen prisoners go to the electric chair with more pep in their step than Pickett when he heads to the sideline. This is exactly what Tomlin and Canada wanted though. They wanted to run the ball, take time off the clock, play good defense and win one score games. I swear Tomlin would rather lose 13-10 than win 37-34. This plan was working well until today and that’s exactly what I’ve been saying. It’s just not sustainable to keep expecting Pickett to win it in the final quarter every week.
While the Steelers’ offensive line has come together in terms of run blocking, the pass blocking still leaves much to be desired. The combination of quick pressure and Pickett not being decisive enough was on full display this afternoon. He often had little chance to deliver a decent throw but at the same time isn’t it his job to call out the protections and see who is coming and who isn’t?
It’s incredibly hard to avoid the fact that Pickett has played decently against average to below average defenses but when he plays a San Francisco or Cleveland? It’s a totally different story. We mustn’t lie to ourselves. Even if this team should find its’ way into the postseason it isn’t going anywhere. That doesn’t mean you don’t still pursue the playoffs but you also have to be realistic too. Pickett will no doubt remain the starter for the remainder of the season and that’s fine.
There’s little reason to go with either Mitchell Trubisky or Mason Rudolph as neither are likely to be here next season. And with a new coordinator almost guaranteed to come in the Steelers will no doubt stick with Pickett in his third season right? I fear that the damage will already have been done. My fellow fans need to recognize what is happening here. Stop looking at the wonderful career he had at your beloved Pitt. It doesn’t matter where he came from, it matters what he’s doing on the field. Right now he isn’t doing nearly enough and I can’t be the only one who has run out of patience.
