For some reason I keep thinking about Bad Ben games

Big Ben had his share of bad games - multiple interceptions, making "rookie mistake throws" as a 10 year vet, overthrowing receivers, misreading routes, etc. He often lost to inferior teams. Of course, these were countered with his good games where he was money and clutch, and we have yet to see that from KP, except in a few short spurts in the fourth quarter. And there was something qualitatively different - Ben had moxy and wouldn't shy away from the big throws, even when he was playing badly. There was always that hope he would turn it around. He also had better receivers and offensive lines most of the time, which probably helped. Not sure what happened to KP's development. He probably had a low ceiling, but that doesn't explain why he is playing below his floor. I blame coaching and poor schemes, but it is likely more than that.

I know you can only fill so many holes through the draft and free agency as far as players go, but there is great flexibility in replacing holes in coaching. Cleaning house, probably on both side of the ball (and special teams) is probably in order.

 

Will a new coach make Pickett more accurate? Will it improve his decision making? Stop him from staring down receivers? Making poor decisions? At some point you have to stop blaming everything else under the sun

 

Yes and no - Accuracy would improve with confidence...a good coach would go a long way to boosting confidence...
Yes - of course good coaching would improve his decision making...no brainer answer there
Maybe - depends on if the reports are true that he is completely handcuffed. Even the preseason his throws were one read throws and he was throwing TDs then
Yes - coaching would definitely improve his "poor decisions"...go back to question 2

Kenny wasn't great last year bad had confidence and some moxie if you will. This year he seems defeated and lost. Kenny definitely plays a role, but to brush off the coaching as if it is not playing a role is ridiculous.

 

It’s not coaching it’s Pickett. He can’t read a zone defense. He chokes week in and week out. Y’all are making excuses for a quarterback that has thrown 13 touchdowns in 22 games. You’re pointing to preseason? When there are no defensive game plans and vanilla defenses? Lmao! Let’s not forget 2 out of 3 of those teams didn’t play their starters so bigk was having success versus backups and people that have already gotten on with their life’s work

 

He wins a lot in the 4th quarter...not sure you understand the definition of choking.

I'm not making excuses...I think Kenny is playing really bad and may be a bad QB. But I'm also saying that the lack of good coaching he is receiving is not helping any. The preseason point was that those were 1 read throws too. It's like that is how he is being coached...this is where we want to go on this play and so that is where he goes with it.

Its OK if you want to blindly hate Kenny...Y'all are continuously making excuses for a coaching staff that hasn't gained 400 yards in 3 years. Weird, right?

 

Hold on pal. I do not hate picket. I do not hate any steeler player. I do however place blame where it belongs. After 22 games kenny Pickett is not an nfl caliber quarterback. If we had a losing record he would already be on the bench

 

No, it's coaching AND Pickett. Pickett played terribly yesterday, but Tomlin and Canada were out coached by a mile.

 

Pickett has played terribly for 22 games. Not once has he played a complete game. Not one single freaking time. Sorry, a defense keeping the game close and Kenny playing just well enough for one drive doesn’t absolve him of all the other crap play

 

Pickett is bad, yes. No one can argue with that. But my question is why. Has he reached the best he could be, or is bad coaching and bad o-line and bad scheming making him so much worse? Are we wasting someone who could have been good, or at least good enough, or is he just untrainable. His flashes in the fourth quarter of a few games shows some promise, but what’s wrong the rest of the time?

His disconnect with receiver’s routes is also bad, which leads me to think coaching and practice of the whole offense is ineffective.

 

Sorry, but if Pickett was drafted 20th overall after staying in Jersey, going to Rutgers, and on his 6th season taking them to a Big Ten championship, he would be booed out of town. Pitt blinders are the only thing saving him from the citizens on his front lawn with pitchforks and torches.

 

Agreed. Kenny looks bad bad. I'm not opposed to benching him, but I am opposed to making him the scapegoat to a poor coaching staff. They aren't doing him any favors. M&M aren't coming off the bench and improving this team much if any.

 

I agree with all of that. But that doesn't excuse the garbage coming from Canada and Tomlin.

 

actually the opposite for me - witnessing this mess has made me appreciate Ben even more - I really miss his pump fakes -sometimes multiple fakes on one play. How many 3,4 and 5 td games did Ben have? Kenny may not even have 10 tds all year.

 

There doesn't have to be an answer/reason. As someone who has played against people who are the best in the world in their sport, sometimes guys just "get it" and others don't. I've know guys who excelled against the best competition in college, winning many personal accolades, and winning many events... only to see them sputter when they turn pro. I've also seen guys who couldn't compete at a high level in college turn pro, grind it out, and become a successful pro. Neither got better coaching than the other, neither was born with something the other didn't have... one made it and one didn't. Such is the life of a pro athlete.

It is entirely possible that Kenny peaked at the end of the season last season. It is also possible that poor coaching hindered his development. Likewise, its equally possible that he just never "had it" in the first place and just wasn't able to be coached up to speed. We will never know. It could be any one or some combination of all three.... But it is all speculation, and truth be told we don't really need the answer. We just have to know the correct time to move on and not waste any additional time on someone that isn't going to "get it", and start focusing our efforts on finding a guy that can.

 

HE and THEY STINK

 

Ben was nothing like yesterday. Ben had intangibles that zkP doesn’t have. Ben was never this tentative and risk adverse in a sustained period like this.

 

I mean when Ben was in there you got excited when you threw it. With Pickett you dread it when he drops back. I miss the pimp fakes and the extended plays and constantly looking down field to make a play.

I thought KP was going to be a system QB, precise and student if the game type. I just never fathomed him playing this nervous and being this inaccurate game in and game out.

 

You can't never take for granted when you have such a special QB like Ben was in his prime in your team!

Ben was special from day one!