Steelers Training Camp Takeaways: Passing Game Looks….Mid

UNITY TWP., Pa — The Pittsburgh Steelers training camp continued for its seventh day on Thursday as the players took a break from the pads and laid back a bit on the intensity. However, there was still plenty to take away from Thursday’s practice, including George Pickens and others. What can we take away?

Seven Shots

First Rep: The Steelers come out in a 2×2 formation with George Pickens to the outside. Calvin Austin and Cody White are the other first-team guys. Kenny Pickett steps back to pass and looks for Pickens on the slant route between Cole Holcomb and Levi Wallace. However, Alex Highsmith gets his big mitt up and knocks it down. Defense 1-0.

Second Rep: Larry Ogunjobi comes up the middle unblocked by Pickett sees it before anything happens in that area. He scrambles to the left where there were trips to that side. Pickens works the scramble drill and peaks back inside to get open and Pickett finds him for the touchdown. Tied 1-1.

Third Rep: The Steelers run the 3×1 formation to the other side now. Pat Freiermuth is aligned most inside and against Tre Norwood. Pickett steps back and likes the matchup and wants to fire it to Freiermuth on the out route. But it is broken up by Norwood. Defense 2-1.

Fourth Rep: Austin is aligned to the inside of the 3s1 formation to the right side of the formation. This seems to be the matchup they want the most with Austin aligned with Chris Wilcox. However, Austin can not separate and Wilcox knocks it out of the hands of Austin. Defense 3-1.

Fifth Rep: Mitch Trubisky is now in the fray. Ja’Marcus Bradley runs a post-corner route toward the pylon. He is covered by Kenny Robinson as an overhang. It is great coverage by Robinson who breaks it up. However, an expletive-filled taunt to Robinson gets him rung up for taunting. Mike Tomlin gives this to the offense, but I’m less forgiving. Defense 4-1.

Sixth Rep: Connor Heyward is now in the formation. He zips across the formation to make it unbalanced to the left side. Heyward is the target here on an out route but the defense reads it coming. Trubisky fits it into the window but Norwood fights back into the picture and knocks it out. Defense 5-1.

Seventh Rep: Hakeem Butler is the most outside receiver and bullies Wilcox off the line on the rep. He separates and peaks through the zone. Trubisky throws it behind him so he settles down between the linebacker and safety. However, Butler drops the football. Defense wins 6-1.

Pittsburgh Steelers wide receiver George Pickens greets fans before practice, Aug. 2, 2023. — Ed Thompson / Steelers Now

George Pickens Shows Out

I hate to say the guy did it again, but Pickens did it again. The Steelers could have a breakout receiver emerging with what Pickens is doing right now, as he makes catch after catch that amazes. There are still certain subtleties that I question, such as using the passion he brings to the field to polish his field awareness and his overall polish. But it is undeniable that he is running a fuller route tree at a higher level this year.

The battle with Joey Porter Jr. only fuels Pickens to make more plays. I have to commend him for that. So far, he has largely dominated Porter Jr., though Porter Jr. got some one-ups on him today. But his body control and ball skills were always elite. Now, he’s starting to add some nuance and control to his game that could take it to the next level.

Isaac Seumalo is the Key

Without Isaac Seumalo today, the offensive line seemed to crumble. It is without pads, so take it for what it’s worth, but it wasn’t the straight man-to-man blocking that worried me. It was the fact that the team seemingly had a tough time reading what was coming to them from blitzes. The communication largely broke down at an overhead level. Pass rushers came through free into the A-Gap on stunts.

There is something about having a veteran guard in there to communicate with you that simply makes these things turn. But that wasn’t what happened today. Without Seumalo, they crumbled and lost the communication structure upfront. So, that is something to watch if Seumalo ever got injured.

2-Minute Drills

Alright, let’s break down these two-minute drills from practice today. This is the first time that it happened of the training camp, so this was interesting to see. Here are some of the plays that stood out and are notable for me:

– Kenny Pickett and the offense had 1:38 seconds with one timeout to make it down the field. On the first play, he hit Gunner Olszewksi out of trips on a hot route curl. It looked like they were loading up for a deep shot to Pickens, but Chukwuma Okorafor false started and set the whole thing back.

– From there, it took the team a bit to get moving. Jaylen Warren converted on a dump-off but only brought the team to the 50-yard line. However, this team looked out of sync. On the sixth play of that drive, Pickett scrambled out of the pocket away from pressure and fired an errant pass toward Cody White. Joey Porter Jr. stepped in front and picked it off. Great play by Porter Jr. but a puzzling decision made by Pickett. He failed on this drive.

– Next drive, it was Mitch Trubisky’s turn to do it. Same circumstances as Pickett. I liked a lot of this. The second play of the drive, Keeanu Benton got his big paws up to bat it down. But on 3rd and medium, Connor Heyward made a twirling catch on a crosser over the middle for a tough conversion. That was a tough grab.

– The next two plays stood out defensively. Calvin Austin III slipped but took his route too wide and allowed Elijah Riley to run with him. Miles Boykin got beat by James Pierre on a comeback route as Pierre broke it up. That made it third and 10 and Rodney Williams made a great grab on a choice route for the first down.

– To finish the drive off after a timeout, Darnell Washington caught an out route for 8 yards. However, the clock was running and with one last play, the team dialed up a seam route to the big tight end. He made a nice spinning grab and was ruled down at the one by the referees to be tackled by Tre Norwood, but Mike Tomlin overruled it and said that the 6-foot-7, 265-pound unit would have bowled over Norwood. I agree, a touchdown and a successful drive.

– My immediate takeaway from this is this secondary has some ballhawks. They are contesting windows and even in the heat and challenging conditions, never lost composure. Pierre, in particular, had a nice day and really showed up well for himself. The second is that Washington is a monster. I’m not sure how you don’t see the role here. Let him kick defensive ends up front and run him up the seam. That’s his role in year one. It’s pretty easy.

Steelers QB Kenny Pickett

Passing Offense Struggles

This was one thing that stood out. Over seven practices, I haven’t been dazzled by this passing offense. They should be a better-rushing offense. That seems to be rather clear. These guys are taking more deep shots. Cool. Even more, the weapons are better and so is Kenny Pickett. That all seems to be true.

But how can I get excited about an offense that, to this point, is largely mid. Pickett doesn’t have much to blame in this. Although, today he does. But Pickett is not yet at the stage where he is a star quarterback who somehow elevates everything around him. They might get some explosive plays with George Pickens and Diontae Johnson. Moreover, they have some nice tight ends to work with and a good stable of running backs.

It’s just the scheme is not diverse. The deep shots are formulaic. So far, the execution is what you would expect from a young offense. There is not a lot to convince me that this is a team that will be consistently explosive and a particularly good passing game. They’re better than last year, but that doesn’t translate into a good passing attack.