Not even Kenny Pickett is falling for his own stat-padding preseason

2023-08-24 02:25

The Pittsburgh Steelers have a young QB in Kenny Pickett who has enjoyed an efficient summer, and also understands what that truly means.

Mike Tomlin's Pittsburgh Steelers have scored exactly 27 points in each of their first two preseason games. They have come up with double-digit victories at Tampa Bay (27-17) and vs. the Buffalo Bills.

So, what does it all mean for the Pittsburgh Steelers? Second-year quarterback Kenny Pickett, who has been putting up stellar numbers in limited work in the wins, had a frank assessment.

"It is preseason, man," Pickett said earlier this week in an interview with The Athletic (courtesy of Kevin Patra of NFL.com). "Nothing counts, so it is kind of easy to remain motivated because we haven't done anything yet. Everybody understands that."

Steelers: Kenny Pickett knows his preseason play means almost nothing

No doubt some have not-so-fond memories of a year ago. The Steelers were a perfect 3-0 in the preseason and proceeded to drop six of their first eight games. Pickett himself got off to a rough start as well.

In his first six games (5 starts), he threw only two TD passes, served up eight interceptions and was sacked 18 times. In his final seven contests, all starts, Pickett threw for five scores and was picked off once. He was sacked only nine times and led fourth-quarter comeback wins over the Raiders and Ravens.

This summer, the 25-year-old quarterback has hit on nine of his 11 throws for 113 yards and a pair of scores without an interception vs. the Buccaneers and Bills. Those are nice numbers, but…

"I am not going to lie, it's been good," added the 2022 first-round pick. "We have been keeping (the offense) basic, but we just want to keep executing the offense at the level we are. We just want to continue to do that until we get the full playbook. We have been very vanilla, and we are going to do that until it is time to go. We understand it is just the preseason."

Go time is Sept. 10 at home against the defending NFC West champion San Francisco 49ers. This past season, the Niners gave up the fewest total yards in the league and allowed the fewest points in the NFL. It will be interesting to see how far Pickett and the Steelers have come in a somewhat short time.