In the end, the Pittsburgh Steelers couldn’t hold off the New York Jets but there is cause for hope despite falling to 1-3. Here are our big takeaways from the Steelers’ 24-20 loss to the Jets.
The Steelers have their quarterback
I’m not sure if HC Mike Tomlin is ready to say this is Kenny Pickett’s team but make no mistake, the Pitt rookie is the future. But is he the present? That remains to be seen.
Improvement by Najee Harris
For the game, running back Najee Harris finished with 74 yards rushing on 17 yards. This was by far his best game of the season and you could see he is making some subtle tweaks to his approach and it paid off.
Too many penalties
The Steelers had eight penalties for 55 yards, most of which came in the first half and all of them were at key moments. Tomlin made note of the excessive penalties in his postgame press conference and we all understand how Tomlin feels about unforced errors.
Where did the pass rush go?
This defense is great when the pass rush is working and it’s really average when it isn’t. We saw both sides of this in Sunday’s game. Early on the Steelers have Jets quarterback Zach Wilson on the run and it showed. Late in the game, when the pass rush slowed down, Wilson picked the secondary apart.
How about this Pickens kid?
Throw to George Pickens and good things happen. Kenny Pickett figured this out almost immediately on Sunday. Pickens had the first 100-yard receiving game of his career and led the team in catches and yards. Is Pickens the best receiver on the team? Maybe not yet but you can’t deny his special traits.
Defensive fatigue is a real problem
After the game, when head coach Mike Tomlin addressed the media he noted a big reason the Steelers defense allowed the Jets offense to march right down the field late for the go-ahead touchdown was fatigue. This has to do with issues with depth on the Steelers defense and I look for more shuffling of the backups int he coming weeks looking for a better combination.
It might be time to stop thinking about the playoffs
At 1-3 the road to the playoffs is steep. And if the Steelers are turning to Kenny Pickett for the rest of the season, Tomlin’s streak of non-losing streaks would be in real jeopardy. Frankly, it’s no safer if the team goes back to Mitch Trubisky and either way, the rebuild might be in full swing.
