The Pittsburgh Steelers made a change at offensive coordinator by firing Matt Canada on November 21. But the Steelers are going to stay with quarterback Kenny Pickett behind center.
Not only will the Steelers stay with Pickett, head coach Mike Tomlin shared that he remains very confident in the second-year quarterback. Tomlin explained to the media on November 21 why he has that confidence.
“Because I work with him every day, and I’ve been really transparent with you guys about him and his willingness to work and my experience and what that tells me,” Tomlin told reporters. “This guy will do anything and everything. He works extremely hard and just saw him a few minutes ago in the building.
“There’s such a thing as football justice, man. Those guys usually get what they’re looking for. And so that’s why I remain consistently optimistic about the trajectory of his growth and development.”
Pickett owns a 13-9 record as a starting NFL quarterback. In 7 of those 13 games, Pickett has recorded a game-winning drive.
But in all offensive categories except touchdown-to-interception ratio, Pickett has regressed during his second season.
QB Kenny Pickett to Remain Steelers Starter
A reporter asked Tomlin on November 21 whether Pickett would continue to start. Tomlin was blunt, saying, “Yes” and then elaborated with why when faced with other questions.
Pickett will stay behind center despite throwing for only 107 yards in a 13-10 loss to the Cleveland Browns in Week 11. The defeat dropped the Steelers to third place in the AFC North at 6-4.
In 10 starts this season, Pickett has posted a 60.5% completion percentage, 1,722 passing yards, 6 touchdowns and 4 interceptions.
During his second season, Pickett has yet to throw for more than 235 yards in a game. He hasn’t thrown for 200 yards in a contest since Week 7 against the Los Angeles Rams.
He has also recorded 2 passing touchdowns in just one contest.
Pickett is ranked 28th in passing touchdowns, 33rd in completion percentage and 33rd in passing yards per game this season.
With those pedestrian numbers and things seemingly getting worse, 93.7 The Fan’s Adam Crowley argued on November 20 that Tomlin should bench Pickett.
“The Steelers should start [Mitch] Trubisky or [Mason] Rudolph on Sunday,” Crowley wrote on X (formerly Twitter. “Let Kenny [Pickett] sit. He’s broken.”
The #Steelers should start Trubisky or Rudolph on Sunday. Let Kenny sit. He’s broken.
As bad as it’s been for Pickett, his saving grace has been the lack of turnovers. He’s the only starting quarterback in the NFL with under 5 turnovers this season.
Mitch Trubisky and Mason Rudolph could possibly provide more upside than Pickett right now. But given their past mistakes, Trubisky and Rudolph are much more likely to commit costly turnovers than Pickett is.
Pickett’s First Opportunity Without Matt Canada
There’s no doubt that Pickett can be better. But there’s a little sense of renewed optimism around the fan base with the second-year quarterback because of the change at offensive coordinator.
Tomlin announced firing Canada on November 21. Running backs coach Eddie Faulkner will replace him as the team’s offensive coordinator while quarterbacks coach Mike Sullivan will call the offensive plays.
With Canada as offensive coordinator, the Steelers had three different starting quarterbacks — Pickett, Trubisky and Ben Roethlisberger. Pittsburgh’s offense didn’t excel with any of those signal callers.
The Steelers were 15th in passing yards but 29th in rushing yards during Canada’s first season in 2021. This season, they are 31st in passing yards and 16th in rushing yards.
In 44 games with Canada as offensive coordinator, the Steelers never had 400 yards of offense.
One shouldn’t ignore Pickett’s first 22 NFL starts, but it’s difficult to fully evaluate the young quarterback since his coordinator was deemed one of the worst in the league.
How Pickett does in the final seven weeks of the 2023 season could be a bigger determining factor of whether he’s a franchise quarterback than his first 22 starts.
But don’t think Tomlin and the Steelers are placing Pickett’s development ahead of everything else to end the 2023 season.
“I’m focused on this week in terms of the development of Kenny,” Tomlin said in response to a question about the importance of the final seven games to Pickett’s development. “You know, we’re not urinating on the fire, man. We’re getting ready to play a football game and win this week.
“That is the only agenda here. It’s not big picture and 2024 and all of that. This organization is not wired like that.”
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Matt Canada Fired: Mike Tomlin Candid on Kenny Pickett’s Future