Kenny Pickett is feeling better this week than he did last.
Last week, he was still feeling the symptoms of a concussion which stemmed from a hit he took during the first drive of the Steelers' Week 14 loss to the Ravens. Pickett returned for the second drive of the game before he saw how fast the game was moving. Not feeling well, he self-reported and was removed.
"Definitely the right call was not to play last week," Pickett said at the UPMC Rooney Sports Complex Thursday. "Could have pushed it, but I think the right choice was to sit out one week and be full go this week."
This was Pickett's second concussion of the season, the other coming in Week 6 against the Buccaneers. Pickett was able to play the following week against the Dolphins after that first trip through the concussion protocol, but he did not clear this past week, with Pickett saying he left the protocol Monday.
"[This one was] definitely more severe, I think, than the first one, just based off of the symptoms and how long they lingered," Pickett said. "But once you have a concussion, you just feel so much better that day when you're clear without the symptoms. It’s just an obvious feeling. I felt that late last week, I feel 100 percent week. I’m excited to play."
The hit that caused that second concussion was almost a great play, breaking out of one tackle while keeping his eyes downfield to potentially make a play. Roquan Smith caught him on the second wave, leading to him getting slammed to the turf:
It was almost a great play, and instead it put him on the shelf. It would seem easy to say that Pickett just needs reined in to try to prevent an injury like that happening again, but as Matt Canada put it, "I don't think we can play like that. I think it's either go or not go."
But with hindsight being 20-20, would it have been better for him to go down earlier or throw the ball away?
"I mean, that's easy to say, but he's a real competitive guy, right?" Canada said. "He shook the guy off; he's going to try to make a play, and obviously they’ve got to come. So, yes, of course, I wish he would have just gone down, knowing what happens. But you can’t ask him to do that. I mean, he's who he is. He did a great job shaking one, and it falls on—we just can't let those things happen."
That last line about not letting things happen was a reference to a missed assignment that led to the pressure and Pickett scrambling. It was a move that was perhaps not the best from a self-preservation standpoint, even if Pickett feels he's done a good job in that area as a rookie.
"It comes with the position," Pickett said. "It comes with playing football. It’s going to happen. I was lucky early in my career at college really not having many concussions or at all really experiencing what I've experienced these past two. So, it happens. It's football."
MORE FROM THE SOUTH SIDE
• Saturday's game against the Raiders is set to be one of the coldest in franchise history, with the expected temperature to be around 11 degrees with 16 mph winds.
"I think you have to game plan," Canada said about the weather. "Obviously, we're not naive. We know what’s being predicted. Some games, that changes. We have our plan based on what we think will work. And then you have to react to the elements of the game, just like they do."
As for Pickett, his plan is to put on a thicker thermal.
"Maybe put on a ski mask," Pickens joked. "I’ll ask George [Pickens] which one he prefers, andI'll rock the same one GP is rocking and we'll be good to go."
• Speaking of Pickens, Pickett was asked about how that relationship has built over the course of this season.
"We're two young guys in it, battling through our first season," Pickett said. "We plan on being here a long time together. That relationship is going to continue to grow, we'll continue to build trust. It wasgood talking to him on the field, too, when he was coming off and what I was seeing and what he was seeing and continue that communication."