My thoughts on regular season wk 10

1. Only fitting that w match throwback uniforms with a throwback offense

2. Najee and Jaylen were beasts

3. Nice to see a strong 1st half

4. Not so nice to see us get away from a lot of what we did

5. Note to Matt Canada: play action is your friend

6. I know we're struggling a bit in the secondary without Minkah, but there is no excuse for the middle of the deep field to be so wide open most of the game

7. Nice to see Patrick Peterson find the fountain of youth

8. Levi Wallace has to be replaced somehow

9. Kenny Pickett's struggles are largely on him.... he's having issues going through his progressions

10. Mason Cole in motion is a lot better than Mason Cole stationary

11. After some early completions, Jordan Love basically started throwing where Joey Porter Jr was not

12. Keanu Benton was a beast and started getting the TJ Watt huggy treatment, fresh with the refs totally missing it

 

Kenny Pickett was terrible today. Canada sucks but the Steelers have a serious QB problem.

 

I was all in with giving Pickett the benefit of the doubt. He will not use the middle of the field, seems to lock in on his first read and still bails instead of stepping up into the pocket. PA should have been available for many of his drop backs. I can't recall them ever using it. Getting Freiermuth back would sure help. But I'm beginning to doubt that KFP is "the next one".

 

Btw.: congratulations Jaylen Warren on your 1st 100 yd game

 

Luck # 13: The New England Patriots are the worse team in the AFC.

 

He stares down his receivers all the time

 

Kenny's well below-average Wonderlic score makes me think he's not ever going to be cerebral enough of a QB to inprove on the decision making side of the ball. It wouldn't be a problem if he had the brute strength / raw athletic ability / speed to make up for such a deficit, but he doesn't seem to have much of either.

 

He had three really bad throws and the swing pass to Warren late was a bad play design, but one he has to see is covered and adjust. That said, he had a game-clinching pass wiped out by a penalty and Johnson dropped one that should have given them first-and-goal in the fourth quarter.

 

Didn't see the game sadly @blackandgoldpatrol! Thank you as always for a good summary of the game!! Have to rewatch it and see how bad Kenny misfired there.

 

11. Steelers get outgained in total offense again, but win again.

 

I didn't see him bail much today, though the late run helped. Pickett definitely didn't play well, but the drop by Johnson and the stupid penalty on Austin didn't help.

 

The Steelers had a good defense, but injuries have taken a huge toll. The absence of Fitzpatrick is huge. He just does so much for them against the run and pass. The loss of Holcomb for the season hurts, even more so with Alexander out not, too. Heyward may be out there, but he isn't making plays. Now they might lose Neal, too. I'm not sure how they adjust to all this given all those losses.

 

Yeah, he always makes some plays, but the mistakes are numerous. I've been extremely patient - this is literally my first negative post about the kid - but he has to play much better to have a future in the NFL. Staring at receivers, ignoring the middle of the field, accuracy issues, and so forth. I know the scheme sucks, and I'm pretty sure Tomlin wants to run first and manage the game, but GB is not good, the Steelers have some decent receivers and he can't do anything through the air. It's a really bad sign.

 

LOL…how is this even possible?!

 

No, he didn't really bail much today, but he still has the nagging tendency to do it. You're right, though. A bad drop and the pick penalty on Austin were just crazy. Hard to believe there are actually QB's playing worse than he is right now, but there are a few. To get where they want to be, he has to improve. I just don't know if it's there to be had for him.

 

I'm definitely frustrated with him, too, but it wasn't all Pickett today.

 

Ben=Captain Obvious

 

Agree, his throws are generally on the sideline or back shoulder. I thought the Austin penalty on the pickens catch isn't called 90% of the time when he didn't change his route to make contact. Up the gut of the pocket isn't great for him to step up all the time. I wish we had a center that doesn't give so much ground to see if KP can get through his progressions and make the right throw. I still question whether our WR's other than DJ get separation quick enough to hit a guy in stride.

 

On the flip side, he's really lucky he wasn't picked off on that one boneheaded pass into double coverage. It might have been a very different game if he was. Thankfully, we'll never know.

 

1. Najee needs to tie his cleats better
2. Middle of the field remains a barren wasteland or our offense
3. 3rd and long is a scary situation for our defense
4. Kenny is trending down
5. We win!?

 

Loved Warren. Bell is right about Najee he has to lose some weight to gain some quickness back. That one screen he just couldn't get the gas pedal down fast enough to get going. Warren has way more speed and quickness and it shows. Also unless our KR makes it past the 25 its a failure every time to take it out. Further Boz has to kick the ball into the end zone consistently. Lastly I'm gonna get greedy here, but our special teams gunners have to get right up on the PR when he calls fair catch. Today our guy gave up and jogged by and the guy muffed it. That's the second time this year our gunners failed to be right by the guy when he muffed it. Special teams coach I bet never even addressed this. The small seemingly insignificant details sometimes wins you games. I would have that up on the screen in meeting.

 

Wow…a 17. That is terrible! Only slightly above Lamar Jackson’s 13. Joe Burrow’s was 34 and DeSean Watson’s was 20. I think the average is the mid 20s for NFL quarterbacks. Ben’s was 25, Mitch’s was 25 and Mason’s was 28. I didn’t realize Pickett’s was so low and well below average. That’s disappointing and speaks to his overall intelligence level which I thought was one of his strong suits. I’m even more concerned about his ability to lead this team long term now.

 

Isn't that the same thing we said about Ben the last few seasons as well though? Seriously though! The same things were said those last few years. the only thing different was how quick Ben threw the short outs.

It's got to be the teams philosophy! They look like a different team when they do, but they don't want to!