A closer look at where Pickett needs to improve taken on the South Side (Steelers)

ABIGAIL DEAN / STEELERS

Kenny Pickett during Wednesday's practice at the UPMC Rooney Sports Complex.

It's really easy to make Matt Canada the scapegoat for the problems within the Steelers' offense. While he is certainly not void of any blame, when all else fails, it sure is easy to blame the coaching.

But, as soon as Kenny Pickett was given the reins of the Steelers' offense, it should have been expected that the rest of the season would see its fair share of growing pains.

One of the most difficult tasks for any rookie quarterback is learning how to go through his progressions when NFL coverages are far more complex and every single player on the field is stronger and faster.

"I'm feeling better and better each week. The more you play in a system, the more comfortable you get," Pickett said Wednesday afternoon at the UPMC Rooney Sports Complex. "I like the way I'm progressing and where I'm headed. We've got some small things to clean up. If we get those cleaned up, we feel like it would have been a different game on Sunday, but we didn't get it done. So, that's on us to get it fixed for Monday night."

It's really difficult to throw Pickett completely under the umbrella of being a "first-read" quarterback, but there are some glaring examples of him remaining solely fixed on his first target.

Here's a play on third down that should have been converted. Pickett makes a great back-shoulder throw to Najee Harris going up the sideline, but he's unable to haul it in. It's a ball that Harris has to catch:

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Now, watch the play again and focus on Diontae Johnson, who moves in motion at the bottom of the screen just before the snap.

Yeah, that should have been the play. And, there's a good chance Johnson gets to the first-down marker, though he would have caught the ball short of the sticks. Say what you will about Johnson running after the catch. But, there is trying to make a play after catching a pass on a route that forces him to stop then start, then there is catching a ball in stride. This is where Johnson is the most dangerous.

Remember what he did in the final minute of the Sunday night game at Miami:

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As soon as Trey Hendrickson break off and starts running with Harris, Pickett should have moved on to his next read. There's a good chance he sees Johnson streaking across the field with a lot of space to run after catching the ball in stride.

Some of you might not think the aforementioned play is a good example of Pickett not making the right decision since the play's ultimate demise came down to a pass that should have been caught. So, here's another example:

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Zach Gentry is Pickett's first read the whole way, and he never takes his eyes off him. Pickett should know the Bengals are in zone defense since Connor Heyward moves in motion and nobody follows him, even though safety Von Bell comes down closer to the line of scrimmage once Heyward is set, revealing cover one.

It turns out that Bell completely blows his coverage, giving the inside leverage to Heyward who streaks to the middle of the field for what would have been an easy touchdown.

This play is much harder to watch because Gentry is never open. Even though the linebacker is only responsible for the window underneath while the safety takes away anything over the top, he does a great job of sticking with Gentry to take away any possibility for Pickett to drop a dime over his head between him and the safety.

However, there are also plenty of times where Pickett went through his reads and used his legs to improvise. This is where Ben Roethlisberger and Antonio Brown were so lethal. Roethlisberger knew how to scramble and Brown knew exactly where to go when Ben extended the play. That takes time to develop, so let's not kill Kenny over this.

I even made a point to ask him after Sunday's game how the receivers and he are working and progressing in this particular area, because it can help him so much when plays break down.

"We have done a lot more scramble drills, and I think it showed today," Pickett said Sunday. "I think it continued to improve and I can continue to extend plays and give those guys more time to get open down one the field and give us more opportunity to have those explosives."

That being said, I've provided a couple of examples from Sunday of how Pickett needs to improve with his vision downfield when he is improvising.

Pickett's legs are a wonderful tool that the Steelers can utilize to exploit defenses. Canada can design plays to move the pocket and have Pickett roll out. Here's a play-action roll out to the right where Johnson is clearly the No. 1 target, but results in a throwaway:

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The Bengals drop into zone coverage (which Pickett should have seen from Steven Sims going in motion). Johnson is running an out route, but when he sees the cornerback stay low to take away the quick out, Johnson then improvises and finds the soft spot in the zone coverage. The window is there for only a second, but it looks as if Pickett has already made up his mind to tuck and run or throw the ball away.

Here's another play where Pickett was forced to improvise. To his credit, he's able to get through his first two reads (Heyward on a drag route and Johnson on a go route) before bailing the collapsing pocket. He set himself up to make a play with his legs, but the decision he made was ultimately -- and painfully -- the wrong one:

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George Pickens is also running a go route, but looks back and sees Pickett scrambling to his side of the field. He quickly breaks off the route and comes back toward the line of scrimmage waving his hands to give him an option. But, Pickett has his eyes fixed on Pat Freiermuth, who is much more tightly covered, even after breaking off his route as well.

The intent here isn't to pounce on Pickett and make him the reason for the offense's failures to this point in the season. We've seen time and time again how Pickett has shown loads of potential to be the next franchise quarterback in Pittsburgh: Taking over a dying offense and nearly leading the team to victory against the Jets. The fourth-down throw to Freiermuth in Miami to keep the team alive. The "prudent use" of using his legs to make plays when things break down.

Pickett isn't a unique case. It's going to require time for him to properly develop. Tomlin knows that, which is why he doesn't like to comb through a weekly synopsis of his rookie quarterback's performance. All that matters is continued growth, and that is something we have seen.

"It's having high expectations and continuing to work every day," Pickett said regarding his development. "I'll get to where I want to be and where I know I can be. That's between myself showing up and being the same guy every day, coming ready to work and listen to my coaches."

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