As devastating a beat-down as the Pittsburgh Steelers took at the hands of the Buffalo Bills, rookie quarterback Kenny Pickett had an admirable first regular season start on October 9. It’s just sad the team couldn’t rally to put any points on the board outside the first-quarter field goal.
Kicker Chris Boswell missed two field goal attempts, but it didn’t matter as the Bills walloped the Steelers 38-3.
In his debut as the Steelers starting quarterback, Pickett went 34 of 52 for 327 yards and one interception. To throw for over 300 yards against a defense as fierce as Buffalo’s is nothing to scoff at. He has a promising future in Pittsburgh.
Former Dallas Cowboys quarterback-turned-broadcast analyst Tony Romo said Pickett showed tremendous poise and decision-making. “This is your first start, on the road, against a challenging opponent. Pretty impressive.”
But two Bills players made attempts to put an early end to Pickett’s rookie season.
The latter hit came in the game’s final moments when Pickett scrambled right to throw. As he let go of the ball, Bills defensive end Shaq Lawson hit the quarterback low, bending his leg back. Expectedly so, the rookie didn’t take kindly to the tackle and let it be known by shoving him, causing a fight to break out between both sides.
Kenny Pickett ain’t going down without a fight
Guard James Daniels played peacemaker to take Pickett out of harm’s way once Lawson finally loosened the death grip on the quarterback’s facemask.
“It’s a legal hit, he’s outside the pocket,” Romo explained during the broadcast. “But that’s the moxie that we talk about with Pickett. He’s competitive. And you see, he doesn’t like losing, as no great quarterback ever would. He’s frustrated.”
Steelers’ Kenny Pickett Shares Words with ‘Brother’ After Brutal Late Hit
Shaq Lawson wasn’t the first Buffalo Bills defender to try to end Kenny Pickett’s day early. Equally as egregious was a tackle by Buffalo safety Damar Hamlin, Pickett’s former Pitt Panthers teammate.
With a minute left in the third quarter, Pickett tucked and ran with the ball. As he slid, Hamlin came in to make a tackle, which was visibly late though a flag was not thrown.
Damar Hamlin’s filthy — or as the ref called it, ‘legal’ — hit on Kenny Pickett:
Daniels, the peacemaker in the second scuffle, took issue with the late hit and defended his quarterback, launching Hamiln out of bounds.
Ironically, before the game, the Pittsburgh Steelers social media team tweeted a video of a nice moment shared between Pickett and Hamlin.
Pat Narduzzi, who coached them both at Pitt, retweeted the video, writing, “Love this!!!! Kenny Pickett and Damar Hamlin, brothers for life!”
Narduzzi probably didn’t “love” the hit Hamlin put his former quarterback.
Neither did Pickett. “I’ve got to watch it again, but, in my opinion, I felt like he went after my knee after I threw it,” Pickett said in a postgame press conference. “That’s it. Tempers flare. I don’t care. I’m gonna keep playing ’til the last play of the game, and that was it. So, all good with me.”
Steelers-Bills Fights Aftermath
Buffalo Bills defensive end AJ Epenesa was disqualified for coming in contact with the referee trying to pull apart the scrum of players.
Bills Twitter blasted the ref for overreacting after the video went viral.
Ref vs A.J. Epenesa
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Steelers QB Kenny Pickett Responds to ‘Filthy’ Late Hit, Multiple Fights With Bills