Kovacevic: Pickett, Pickens, offense strut their stuff ... with style to spare

TAMPA, Fla. -- "A little sample of what’s to come. I’m excited, to be honest.”

That was Diontae Johnson, but it could've been absolutely anybody across the scope of the Steelers' broad Nation, this after beating the Buccaneers, 27-17, in their preseason opener Friday night at Raymond James Stadium.

Not because of the outcome, for sure.

Not even because of a plethora of positive performances throughout.

But rather, because the first-team offense took the field with the ball planted at the Pittsburgh 17 and, 10 plays later -- feeling in a way like 10 years later based on the previous time any of us had witnessed this level of spread-it-around, peanut-butter-level smoothness -- punctuated what all involved knew would be their only series of the evening with this:

Gorgeous, huh?

A 33-yard touchdown. A score from beyond the red zone. A third-and-long conversion. An honest-to-Heath attempt over the middle. An intermediate-range pass that Kenny Pickett put forth as a bullet, not a friendly thread through a friendly needle. An intermediate-range, over-the-middle, on-the-run catch that George Pickens wouldn't have had the chance to make in his rookie route tree. And ultimately, actual additional yardage.

Check, check, check and check-ity check.

I mean, where to start?

I asked the big man first:

"Touchdown felt great. I scored a lot of those as a kid growing up," Pickens would reply with a slight smile. “It's good just to show people that I can do that. It’s based off the plays that are set up, and that’s one of the plays where I get to show my ability to run after the catch.”

And by ability, he's no doubt referencing that deke up there that dropped poor Zyon McCollum down to graze grass.

Pickens' shift wasn't the only one. Turns out he was Pickett's second read on the sequence.

"Yeah, I was working left and came back to George on it," Pickett would recall. "We've been working on that, an in-breaking route. So it was good to see him separate, and the run after the catch was awesome to see."

Of the overall drive, he'd add, "I think we accomplished what we wanted to do. Go out there, spread the ball around, get different guys touches ... and make it a scoring drive. So we kinda checked all the boxes, and I think that's what we needed."

No check, of course, could loom larger than this: Pickett wound up 6 of 7 for 70 yards, a 147.9 passer rating and the touchdown. He roamed all over, read his reads, avoided checkdowns with conviction, and fired away.

Now, as pretty much everyone in the locker room was pointing out, this was one series. Of one game. Which didn't count. But I'm comfortable saying, in the same breath, that any continuation of what's been getting crafted in Latrobe ... that's got to count toward at least a little something for this still-young offense.

Mike Tomlin sure seemed to think so, starting his assessment of the offense with, "We’re not gonna wear our hands out patting ourselves on the back at this juncture," but then proceeding with "I thought we saw some things we wanted to see with the first-unit offense. Kenny spread the ball around, kept himself clean, moved the group. We were able to check that box and get them a quality rep in the process."

Trust me that, from him, following an exhibition, that's the equivalent of booming out praise from here to Bradenton.

Which is fine. For real. Because, as Anthony McFarland, author of a later 14-yard touchdown run, would tell me, "It's not like we aren't aware that we can do this. We're doing this every day. You're seeing it."

I am. Including McFarland's own ascent, the most impactful of any player in camp year-over-year. And it's all impressive.

That goes double for Johnson. I've been a critic of his 2022 season, and I won't apologize for it because it was accurate. But the calendar never stays stuck and neither has he. To my view, he's been the premier performer to date at Saint Vincent College, and all he did here was further verify that by catching half of Pickett's six completions -- all three of his targets -- for 33 yards:

To the left. To the right. Downfield. Twice to move the sticks.

I spent more time with Johnson than anyone in the room afterward, hoping to hear what's making him tick this summer. And his response couldn't have been simpler.

"It's Kenny," he'd reply softly. “You see how he was moving. He looked better. Just fluidly. Completing the passes, making his reads, seeing the defense and hitting his open guys. You can see what we can do when we dink and dunk down the field, and then GP got in the end zone."

Funny, but Pickens had something similar to share related to Pickett: “That’s really a big sign of composure, the way Kenny's just standing in the pocket, delivering balls that are in the first-read window. It's what he’s been doing the whole time.”

Meaning this summer.

“Getting us on the move, getting the ball in our hands and allowing us to make plays after the catch," Johnson continued. "That’s really what the coaches have been harping on. Not having us run the same pattern, but stretching the field and knowing certain plays to call. You’ve got certain guys there. When he breaks the pocket, just knowing where he’s going to be at."

That's the communication, verbal or otherwise, on which I've been reporting for weeks. There's been something there between Pickett and all his receivers, but man, for whatever reason, it's most evident by a mile with Pickens and Johnson. When one goes high, the other throws high. When one goes low, or under the coverage, the other throws low.

I mentioned that to Johnson.

"Yeah, you're seeing what you think you're seeing," he'd respond with a knowing nod. "It's there now."

Check, check, check, and I haven't yet shown nailing Pat Freiermuth between the 8 and the 8 over the middle:

Or the run-pass option that Jaylen Warren -- and the heart of the offensive line -- parlayed into 10 jackhammered yards:

It's almost as if it they were seeking a small sliver of validity.

"This was huge for us as a group, I think," Najee Harris would say. "It's the start of where this offense is headed."

GETTY

Kenny Pickett and George Pickens celebrate their 33-yard touchdown in the first quarter Friday night in Tampa, Fla.

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