PITTSBURGH — The town is abuzz in anticipation of the first career start of Kenny Pickett on Sunday in Buffalo against the Bills.
It is one of the most anticipated regular season games I can recall, and that's despite the fact the Steelers are two-touchdown underdogs. The Bills are one of the best teams in the NFL, and on paper, this looks like a mismatch, particularly with all of the defensive injuries the Steelers have.
None of it matters, though, because the insertion of Kenny Pickett into the starting lineup has really energized both the fan base and apparently the locker room, as well.
Pickett entered Sunday's game against the Jets, a 24-20 loss by the Steelers, at halftime and received a standing ovation from the crowd at the mostly full Acrisure Stadium. The crowd was excited, and Pickett gave them even more to cheer when he scored two touchdowns and appeared to put the team in position to win.
But just when the storybook was about to be written and Pickett was leading the Steelers to a game-clinching score, he made a couple of rookie mistakes — a bad pitch that turned into a 6-yard loss and an interception — that gave the Jets one last chance and they cashed it in.
"Disappointing last week, we had the ball first-and-10 at the 31 and didn't finish the game. We had an execution error on a toss and gave them the ball back," Steelers offensive coordinator Matt Canada said about those two mistakes on Thursday.
Pickett threw a total of three interceptions, which is not ideal, but only one of them was troublesome — the second one Canada mentioned — because it was a rookie mistake.
That is a ball he needs to throw away. Even if he had taken a sack, it wouldn't have been ideal, but it wouldn't have been the killer play that interception was.
The first interception he threw was a 50/50 ball on a shot at a big play down the field, and the third was a Hail Mary at the end of the game. Neither of them were bad decisions or even bad throws.
Canada and Mike Tomlin have decided to go with Pickett, a rookie, mostly because they believe he gives them the best chance to win games. They started the season with Mitch Trubisky. He obviously flamed out, and now, it is Pickett's turn.
That makes some sense as they are looking for a spark and Pickett provided one, but the thing is they need to let him play if he is going to be the starter. They need to understand the situation. Handcuffing him and not allowing him to do the things that make him successful are not going to be a winning formula.
I know, I know. Mike Tomlin said Pickett won't be "graded on a curve" even though he is a rookie, and he shouldn't be; the standard should be really high for him. But the flip side of that is he shouldn't be handed a remedial quarterback class and a dumbed-down offense to try to run and be successful with.
If Pickett is the guy, let him be the guy. You can't put him out there in handcuffs, so to speak, and treat him with kid gloves and be afraid he is going to make a mistake.
He can't and won't be successful playing that way, and more importantly, it wouldn't make sense to do it that way. The idea of bringing him along slowly worked with Ben Roethlisberger because he stepped into a team with a top-ranked defense, a great running game and a great offensive line.
This team around Pickett isn't good enough to win with a "cautious game manager" playing quarterback. The defense can't get enough stops, the offensive line hasn't been good in the run game and the running backs haven't, either.
The Steelers need Pickett to be a playmaker, and if that is the case, it means Canada and Tomlin have to let him go out there and make plays. They can't send him out there with the mindset of "we don't want any mistakes" because that not only holds Pickett back, it holds back the offense.
That doesn't mean they shouldn't be smart about how they use him, but he is a rookie. He is going to make some mistakes, and the Steelers knew that when they made this decision. There will be growing pains. There could be some bad stretches of football, but if Pickett is going to be successful, it is going to be because he was allowed to play his game.
Pickett is the future, but he is also the present. It would make no sense for him to be the starting quarterback and not be allowed to play the job the right way out of some misguided fear he will make mistakes. If that truly is the fear, the Steelers should have stuck with Trubisky, but they didn't, so they need to let Pickett play.
