PITTSBURGH — Kenny Pickett was 6 years old when Tom Brady beat the Eagles in Super Bowl XXXIX. For a young and impressionable fan whose favorite player was Donovan McNabb, watching the Eagles lose was quite the gut punch.
On Sunday afternoon, Pickett will square off against Brady when the Tampa Bay Buccaneers visit Acrisure Stadium. It will be Pickett’s second NFL start, while Brady will be starting his 368th game in the league, postseason included.
Brady is 21 years older than Pickett, but there are some other numbers that better illustrate the divide between the two:
— Brady is 22 yards shy of 99,000 career passing yards. Pickett is inching in on 500.
— Brady has thrown more than 717 touchdown passes. Pickett is still looking for his first touchdown pass as a pro.
— Brady has played in 10 Super Bowls, or about one every other year of Pickett’s life.
“Since I first started playing football, I was playing with him in Madden,” Pickett said Wednesday afternoon following practice. “Ever since I can remember, I’ve been watching him in the NFL. He’s an absolute legend of the game.”
Pickett’s first start Sunday in Buffalo did not go well. The Steelers kicked a field goal on their first drive but did not score again, even though they had three more trips into the red zone. The focus this week has been on maximizing their chances when they get in scoring position.
“I liked the efficiency moving up and down the field, but then we hit the 20 and just didn’t get in the end zone,” said Pickett, who had 34 completions for 327 yards against the Bills. “We’re definitely going to tweak some things to get guys opportunities. We have to execute and come out with touchdowns.”
One of the more mind-boggling factoids for the Steelers is none of their receivers have scored a touchdown in the first five games. The Steelers were far from an offensive juggernaut last season, but Ben Roethlisberger had six touchdown passes in the first five games of 2021.
Pickett said Wednesday he is still getting his timing down with his receivers after not getting many repetitions with the starters in training camp or in practice for the first month of the season when Mitch Trubisky was the starting quarterback.
“I feel a lot better this first day of practice [this week] than last week,” he said. “I felt like today was a lot cleaner from a timing standpoint. Our guys did a good job of studying the game plan and being more focused. That’s something we’ve been talking about, having fewer [missed assignments] and having guys in the right spot.”
Pickett was much more comfortable throwing to his running backs and tight ends against the Bills. He was 17 for 20 when targeting them. When he targeted his receivers, he was 17 for 31.
Their chemistry was particularly off in the red zone. Pickett was 0 for 5 targeting his receivers inside the Buffalo 20. Diontae Johnson had just five receptions on 13 targets against the Bills, while Chase Claypool had five catches on nine targets.
The only receiver who had a good connection with Pickett in his first outing was fellow rookie George Pickens, who had six catches on eight targets and led the Steelers with 83 yards.
“We’ve had opportunities,” Pickett said. “There were times in the Jets game and the [Bills] game when we were so close. We have to hit those and connect. I have to have better ball placement. We have guys who can make great plays. It’s about putting them in position, and I have to do my job.
“There were a couple where we were a couple of inches away, a foot being inbounds or out of bounds. I have to give better balls there. Our guys will come down with them. I have full faith they can make plays. And we can be more aggressive in certain areas and mix it up, and we’ll get in the end zone.”
Injury update
Nine Steelers players did not practice Wednesday afternoon, including four defensive backs: Ahkello Witherspoon (hamstring), Cam Sutton (hamstring), Minkah Fitzpatrick (knee) and Levi Wallace (concussion). Starting strong safety Terrell Edmunds, who missed the Bills game with a concussion, was a full participant. Also not practicing Wednesday were Larry Ogunjobi (back), Pat Freiermuth (concussion), Zach Gentry (knee), center Mason Cole (foot) and Montravius Adams (hip). Diontae Johnson was listed as a limited participant with a hip injury.
