Steelers Offensive Coordinator Matt Canada “Yeah, I thought Kenny (Pickett) played well.”
Published August 13th, 2:09 EDT
by Bo Marchionte
Latrobe, PA – The Pittsburgh Steelers accomplished a lot in their first preseason game. Their offense scored. In 2022 points came few and far between as the Steelers finished tied for 26th in the league in points per game with an average of 18.1.
Against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers the Steelers were able to score 27 points and the only quarter they failed to score was in the fourth quarter with their top three quarterbacks relegated to watching from the sidelines. The evolution of Kenny Pickett is going to be the key to success.
“Yeah, I thought Kenny (Pickett) played well,” Steelers Offensive Coordinator Matt Canada said. “A couple things in there we are obviously going to critique but for the small sample size we had with that whole group with Kenny. We achieved kind of what we wanted to do.”
Pickett completed six-of-seven pass attempts for 70 yards and finished the team’s opening drive with a 33-yard touchdown pass to George Pickens. If your memory fails to remember that outcome was an anomaly last season. Pittsburgh had a 14-game streak between 2021 and 2022 without putting the ball in the end zone on their opening drive.
“I think it’s good,” Canada said of the team’s execution against Tampa Bay. I think we are happy with the steps we’ve taken. We’re not anywhere complete to where we want to get to. It’s always good to see in those settings and environments.”
Among the seven passes Pickett attempted, five were targeted at different players. Diontae Johnson had three targets while Pat Freiermuth, Najee Harris, Jaylen Warren, and George Pickens each had one target. Under pressure and pushed out of the pocket, Pickett’s lone incompletion came as Buccaneers Michael Greene was bringing him to the ground. Pickett flung the ball towards Warren to avoid taking a loss.
The overall ball distribution is going to be something to monitor as the offense progresses and finds its footing. The last time the Steelers offense was at its peak the duo of Le’Veon Bell and Antonio Brown were arguably the league’s best tandem at their positions. It left little to the imagination. Bell and Brown were going to be the focal points of the team’s offensive success.
“Everybody can’t have the best game of their career every game,” Canada said on how a player’s stats may look after the game. “It just doesn’t happen like that. Defense will try to take away certain things.
“Kenny’s job will be to manage that and do a good job with it. Our guy’s job will be to manage that and understand. We have to have the ability and execution to get the ball there to the right guy.”
The emergence of Pickens and the already solid presence of Johnson leaves Pickett with two top-tier type wide receivers to target. Freiermuth in his own right is a pass catching force at tight end. In Harris the team has a more than skilled running back to catch out of the backfield. The gadget guys like Connor Heyward, Darnell Washington and Calvin Austin will all see their fair share of attention when called upon.
