Steelers/NFL
—- The Kenny Pickett Crowd got hit with Reality Against the Elite 49ers Defense —-
The blame game is in all full force after the Steelers embarrassing 30-7 home opening loss to the San Francisco 49ers on Sunday afternoon that now see’s the 0-1 Steelers even being listed as a 1.5 point underdog against the Cleveland Browns (1-0) this coming Monday Night at Home. A near perfect preseason saw the hype machine locally and nationally humming about the Steelers prospects in 2023 about not just getting back to the post-season but being a team with an ascending second-year quarterback that is deep and talented enough to be a threat to the top guns in the conference.
What Sunday proved was a dose of reality in how far away the Steelers still are in competing with truly elite teams like the 49ers are. Aside from T.J. Watt, you could dissect any part of the lineup Sunday where the Steelers were vastly overmatched on the field and on the sidelines.
The reality check for the Steeler, though, is despite some of the holes they still have when going head-to-head with a true Super Bowl Contender like the 49ers and the disadvantage they have almost every week with who they’re employing at offensive coordinator, Kenny Pickett is just so far away from being that next-level QB so many were anointing him already as that guy coming into the season. If the Steelers are going to be an 11-win type team that the team internally believes they were going to be prior to week 1, it was and will come down to how significant of a jump Pickett makes in year two.
Pickett is surely going to be better moving forward but his performance was as alarming as it could get as Brock Purdy looked everything of a franchise quarterback in how he commands the offense with great pocket presence, takes advantage of mismatches and for having nowhere near elite arm strength, can drill a tight throw inside the numbers when needed with excellent accuracy. Pickett is such a work in progress in those areas and let’s be honest, with 13 starts at the helm, the body of work is average at best, especially for an older second-year QB. So many became enamored with a couple magical 4th quarter drives late last season that major holes in Pickett’s game gotten overlooked from the Kenny crowd and even the doubters. Pickett’s biggest Achilles heel is an inability to drive the ball through the middle of the field. He doesn’t scare defenses to beat them……..
As putrid as the Steelers run blocking presence was vs the 49ers, considering the opponent, the O-line was admirable in pass protection. “I thought they did an awesome job, particularly from a protection standpoint minimizing Bosa. And really, I thought from a protection standpoint, we were really solid until the very end,” Tomlin said of Pittsburgh’s pass protection against the 49ers ferocious front-seven. “
Pressure has ratcheted up on Pickett for Week 2 matchup vs Browns
We’re reaching the point where the TD/INT ratio is becoming worrisome for Pickett. The 25 year-old quarterback has thrown just 8 touchdowns with 11 interceptions in 14 career games. With no Diontae Johnson Monday night and Cleveland having a huge coaching advantage in Matt Canada vs Jim Schwartz, the pressure is on Pickett to beat matchups that will favor the Browns on Monday night. Particularly the sizeable matchup advantage the Browns have with cornerbacks Denzel Ward and Greg Newsome II who gave the Bengals fits in week 1.
“I thought if you wanted to summarize the game in a small number of words, their corner ability to stand up and man to man on the line of scrimmage versus Cincinnati’s receivers was the story of the game on either side of ball,” Mike Tomlin said on Tuesday when reviewing the Browns tape.
