Film Room: Kenny Pickett Shows Steelers Something
Sometimes, a player just has "it." What that might necessarily mean isn't always too clear. The process might not always align on a consistent basis, which makes repeating those results far more difficult, and yet, Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Kenny Pickett just somehow finds a way to win in the fourth quarter of games.
Pickett now has 18 starts to his career and has executed five fourth quarter comebacks and six game-winning drives in his career, according to Pro Football Reference. Say what you must about the process and the flaws of his game, but there is no denying that he just knows how to win, and he showed this yet again against the Rams.
Calm Under Pressure
It's hard to tell how this progression is supposed to start in terms of concepts along the field side. Nonetheless, the Rams bring four while showing five pre-snap and a two-high shell, which makes Conner Heyward running up the seam very appealing since two high tends to leave the middle open.
Pickett, though, loves the fact George Pickens is isolated one-on-one in man-to-man coverage along the boundary. He holds the boundary side safety just long enough to keep him frozen, sees Ahkello Witherspoon with his back turned with plenty of room to the sideline, and places the ball precisely on the back shoulder to Pickens.
This is not only good chemistry between Pickett and Pickens. This is good pre-snap identification of favorable leverage and attacking it when it's presented. This is something Pickett was struggling with this year, and it's good to see him bounce back in this regard the past two games.
Pickens wasn't the only receiver that Pickett was showing great trust in either.
Steelers come out in a trips bunch set with Heyward delaying his release, Allen Robinson running a dig in the middle of the field, and Diontae Johnson running a 10-yard out route. The defense is showing two high pre-snap but looks to shift to one post-snap, which complicates the dig route. With the line sliding protection towards Donald's side, Najee Harris must pick up the free runner.
This is where the Steelers undoubtedly missed Johnson since he got hurt. Note how quickly Johnson flies off the release with how quickly he's pumping his arms with his pads over his knees to sell like he is running vertically, which gets the cornerback to "open the gate" with his hips and create an easy throwing window on a 10-yard out route.
This route is not only expertly manipulated by Johnson to create a wide-open throw, but it also has such little wasted movement, which allows Pickett to still be able to get this ball out of his hands with the rush in his face on time and in the perfect spot. This is a brilliant throw by Pickett and an efficient route to make it happen by Johnson.
That was a running theme in the fourth quarter, which was Pickett's ability to make big throws while under pressure.
The Rams' defense loved rushing Aaron Donald from a wide nine, which led to three hurries and two quarterback hits, according to PFF. Pickett gets hit by Donald here as he releases this ball but is still able to place it around and over #97 underneath and into Pickens's breadbasket.
This is what we saw from Pickett in the preseason and what helped encourage the fanbase that his bad under-pressure tendencies were starting to get phased out. Obviously, habits that are triggered by stimuli like this are very tough to break, and there were still plenty of instances of Pickett exiting stage left into pressure, but it's encouraging to see him stand under fire in the crucial part of the game and deliver.
Pickett looks to be communicating to his line pre-snap, indicating a protection call, but it's hard to say if it had to do with the stunt along the right side of the line. What's interesting here is how Dan Moore seems to aggressively set to attack Donald off the jump, while Isaac Seumalo jump sets, which creates an absolute mess along the left side of the line.
What looks like a disaster in execution along that left side still turns into a positive play, thanks to a good route by Robinson on the slant versus Witherspoon and yet another good throw by Pickett that set up the eventual game-sealing quarterback sneak call on 4th down.
Conclusion
While the process throughout all three quarters has been a mixed bag at best, it's still good to highlight the promising aspects that Pickett has been able to display in the fourth quarter this season. The frustrations still exist with his bad pocket tendencies to not own the rush, but the flashes of that ability help bring the perspective of what he could become in time if he is able to overcome the ghosts lurking in front of him.
It is far too early to tell if this is the start of a trend or just a flash in the pan, but these are the types of process plays that Pickett needs to string together to help reinforce that he can be the Steelers' franchise quarterback.
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