Kenny Pickett Takes Leap Forward in Steelers Win Over Raiders

LAS VEGAS — The Steelers have tried to find the Kenny Pickett from the preseason throughout the season’s first two weeks. Coming into their Week 3 clash against the Raiders, they would have a lighter matchup but guaranteed little, with Pickett struggling with everything. To begin the game, it didn’t feel like much would come of a matchup where the team got little going throughout their first two drives.

Then, Kenny Pickett hit Calvin Austin III for a 72-yard touchdown. In arguably his best throw of the season, Pickett brought the team back, and from there on out, it felt like Pickett got a bit of his ‘mojo’ back. Was it perfect? Hardly. But the team took a leap offensively largely because of Pickett’s leap.

d much better. The start was shaky, just like the other outings, but to his credit, Pickett made more than enough plays to win this game. For one, he hit the layups. That’s something he did not do at all the past two weeks. It’s the bare minimum of NFL quarterback play, but he did a great job placing balls over the middle of the field so his receivers could get easy yards after the catch.

In addition, he looked more comfortable throwing the ball through his other progressions. The one area that irked me still was the pocket management, where he slid into pressure and bailed on clean pockets. But it’s a step in the right direction. It is not a perfect game, but this is starting to look more like the Pickett the team knew before the season.

Pickett tossed a pair of scoring strikes in Pittsburgh’s Week 3 Sunday Night Football victory against the Raiders. Pickett had nine passing touchdowns in 15 games entering Sunday, but never two in one game. He did run for two scores in his first career game against the New York Jets last season. But it’s the first time he ever had two passing touchdowns in a game in his career.

Perhaps even better, a lot of his success came down the field. Pickett was 6 of 10 om passes traveling more than ten yards down the field. That means this is not only sustainable, but the group has something they can hang their hat on coming into their following games. Pickett’s leap forward must continue, and he has to work out the issues that plagued him to start the season. But if he can continue to take leaps forward, Pcikett has a chance to make some noise.