The last time Kenny Pickett suffered a concussion, he was able to participate in practice while going through the NFL's protocol and was ultimately cleared to play the next game on the schedule.
But when Mike Tomlin addressed the media for his Tuesday press conference at the UPMC Rooney Sports Complex, it seems to be different this time around regarding Pickett's second concussion.
"Kenny is in the (concussion) protocol. Like always, when we're in the protocol, we'll adhere to it. We'll rely on the expertise of our medical experts and let those guys provide the framework for how we proceed," Tomlin said. "Participation is big, obviously, for him and the quality of that participation. The last time he sustained a concussion, he was in the protocol, but he was allowed to work. We'll see what this procedure is like."
When Pickett dealt with his first concussion suffered in Week 6 against the Buccaneers, Tomlin followed up two days later at his press conference with the following quote: "Kenny Pickett is in the concussion protocol. It’s my understanding that his work won't be limited in any way in preparation, and so we’ll adhere to the protocol, and we'll follow that and let that be our guide in terms of participation."
There is obviously much more caution this time around, which makes sense since this is Pickett's second concussion in eight weeks. And with what happened to the Dolphins' Tua Tagovailoa earlier this season, the scrutiny on concussions in the NFL has been far higher than in years past.
In the meantime, Tomlin has to lean on somebody at quarterback if Pickett can't work. And though Mitch Trubisky has been the starter and then Pickett's backup after the switch at quarterback in Week 4, and though Mason Rudolph has been a distant, inactive third quarterback all season, Tomlin did not name a clear starter if Pickett can't go.
"If (Pickett's) unable to work, obviously, we'll divvy those reps up between Mitch and Mason," Tomlin said. "We'll play both guys if he's unable to work in a practice setting in an effort to make a determination what's best as we lean in on the latter part of the week."
The more logical option behind Pickett might be Trubisky. He ran virtually all of the No. 1 reps during training camp and the preseason. He's also been the starter for three and a half games, and helped engineer a win in relief when Pickett was concussed against Tampa Bay.
And, when Trubisky wasn't throwing three interceptions, Trubisky did help the offense move up and down the field after Pickett left Sunday's 16-14 loss to the Ravens.
"I thought we moved the ball fluidly, continually," Tomlin said. "That's what you better have when you have a veteran backup like him. The reps that he misses during the course of the week is made up for by his cumulative experience and expertise."
However, Tomlin was adamant both after the game and Tuesday afternoon that turning the ball over twice near the red zone played a significant factor and may have even been the catalyst in the loss. And, Tomlin has a third option at quarterback that has the most amount of experience playing on this team and in this system.
"We've got veteran backups, guys with an accumulative body of work, particularly in Mason's case having been exposed to us, having been here, the receivers potentially that he would work with and all those things," Tomlin said. "Oftentimes when we talk about a guy ascending within that position, you're calling on past experiences as a catalyst for how you move forward."
Tomlin even went as far as referring to Trubisky and Rudolph, respectively, as "2 and 2A, if you will."
In the Steelers' updated depth chart for the week, Trubisky is listed ahead of Rudolph as Pickett's backup. However, Tomlin's comments make it very clear that if Pickett doesn't clear the concussion protocol, the quarterback position will be decided through reps in practice.
"All three guys are sharp guys. All three guys have been participants in our game-planning, particularly of late," Tomlin said. "All are very capable of playing the position and playing position at a high level within what we're doing right now. We'll take it day to day and play it by ear."
Tomlin also made it clear that if Pickett cleared concussion protocol, he will be the starting quarterback. Though, as always, Tomlin made sure to stress his level of participation in practice this week.
"His ability to work oftentimes will determine whether or not he gets an opportunity to. We'll take it day by day. I think he's out visiting with the doctors as we speak. If he's able to work, we'll work him," Tomlin said. "When we're dealing with someone in the protocol, you just simply take it day by day and whatever the medical experts tell us in terms of the rate of work or the quality of work. We'll adhere to it and we'll frame up by planning and make decisions accordingly based on that information."
There is not only concern with Pickett sustaining a second concussion in eight weeks, but the process that played out Sunday in how and when it was determined he was not cleared to play.
Pickett sustained the hit that concussed him on the final play of the first series of the game. He went into the blue medical tent and went through testing, but was cleared to return and played the following series. After a three and out in which Pickett threw one incomplete pass, he was then removed from the game, put in the concussion protocol and ruled out.
Tomlin clarified the process Tuesday.
"Oftentimes, the guys on the field have my attention and I just receive information from medical experts and so forth. So I wasn't part of his process," he explained. "After the first series of the game, he was evaluated by medical experts and he was cleared to continue. Even though we clear someone to continue, oftentimes they're continually evaluated throughout the process of the game and that's what transpired when he came off the field. The next series, they continued that evaluation, and it was determined that he could not continue."
Though he fielded several questions on how to manage Pickett's second concussion in eight weeks, Tomlin reiterated several times the decision on his participation in practice and in games is completely out of his hands.
"I lean on the expertise of the medical experts, guys," Tomlin said. "You guys can ask me all the medical levels of caution and optimism questions you want. I lean on those medical experts. I am not. Whatever they decide is what we do, and there's really not a lot of discussion there."
Pickett said earlier this season his first concussion this year was the first of his playing career.
MORE FROM THE SOUTH SIDE
• While Pickett's status for Sunday is uncertain at this point, Chris Wormley will be out. Tomlin announced Tuesday that Wormley is set to have knee surgery, though he did not specify the severity of the damage sustained in the injury. However, multiple reports say Wormley tore his ACL, which obviously ends his season.
Wormley put together a nice performance in 2022, and the folks at Pro Football Focus seem to agree by ranking him 18th out of 125 qualifying interior defensive linemen. A reeling Steelers' run defense definitely takes a hit with Wormley now sidelined.
"It’s significant, but each week, man, we look at the guys that are available to us and we put together schematics to highlight who's available," Tomlin said of Wormley's absence. "We work to minimize who's not, so this week won't be any different. We've had weeks where others are unavailable, and we've leaned more toward him, and so he's going to be unavailable and we're going to lean more toward others and their skill sets and what they might be able to provide us."
• Speaking of that run defense, Tomlin isn't overly concerned that the previous six quarters have been an indication of any serious regression from the solid season they were putting together prior to the win over Atlanta.
"We’ve played two run-centric teams with quarterback mobility. So, you play two teams like that, you're going to have somebody ringing up yards on you in the running game," Tomlin said. "If we played two teams that featured the passing game, you could be talking about six quarters of passing yards. So, I'm not desensitized to it, but I just understand it’s the nature of the style of ball we've been playing of late, and we’ve got another game that could be very similar this week. It does have our attention."
• As far as Baltimore getting the needed first down to close out the game near the end of the fourth quarter, Tomlin put it more on Baltimore simply imposing their will more than his team did.
"It's football. The ball snaps, you kick butt, or you get your butt kicked," Tomlin said. "Football is a legitimate humble man's game. Those that participate in it, particularly at this level, playing and coaching, there's not a lot of room for arrogance, man, because everybody gets their butt kicked every now and then in this thing. Whether it's plays or sequences, hopefully not games, but it's a game for the legitimate humble. We don't talk about that enough."
• The only other injury mentioned by Tomlin was a foot injury Pat Freiermuth sustained Sunday, but was able to go back in and finish the game. Tomlin said he expects Freiermuth's participation in practice to increase throughout the week.
• In reflecting on the loss to Baltimore, Tomlin maintained his position from Sunday's postgame press conference that the 215 yards given up on the ground weren't as much of a reason for the loss as the failure to protect the football near the red zone.
"We didn't take care of the ball in those moments. We turned the ball over; we took points off the board," Tomlin said. "They were able to secure the ball in a couple of instances on the short field and preserve those three points and oftentimes that's the difference in this matchup."
Remember, the Ravens ran for 246 yards in last season's final game, but the Steelers prevailed in large part due to three critical turnovers by Tyler Huntley (two interceptions, one fumble).
• Failure on special teams was another facet of Sunday's game that Tomlin made sure to point out. While he once again mentioned the failure to properly block Calais Campbell on the blocked 40-yard field goal attempt by Chris Boswell, especially since they focused on that during the week's preparation.
However, the failure's in the punting game were not overlooked.
"The 17-yard punt is low hanging fruit, but when I look at the totality of the punting game, we had a touchback, and you can't have touchbacks when you're trying to play the long-field game," Tomlin said. "We had a holding call on punt return that gave them a 56-yard net on one punt in the second half, for example. The totality of those things in a close ballgame leans the field toward [Justin] Tucker and away from Boswell, and you know when these two teams come together, oftentimes it comes down to Tucker and Boswell."
• With the concern over Pickett's second concussion in eight weeks, I asked Tomlin if he's thought about pulling his rookie quarterback aside and warn him against trying to make every single play and avoid some big hits in the process.
Tomlin's answer was loud, clear and concise: "No."
