Tim Benz: Adjustments to Steelers’ offense helps Kenny Pickett in many ways
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Much has been made about how the Pittsburgh Steelers’ offense improved in Week 1 under new offensive coordinator Eddie Faulkner and recently promoted play-caller Mike Sullivan.
Getting the offense to over 400 yards for the first time in 58 games was a pleasant departure from the slog that unit had endured under Matt Canada for the last two and a half years.
Still, a mere 16 points went up on the scoreboard in the 16-10 win in Cincinnati. So more work needs to be done.
But quarterback Kenny Pickett certainly looked more confident and decisive in his delivery en route to 24 of 33 for 278 yards and a passer rating of 97.8.
We’ve heard most of the reasons why. They targeted tight end Pat Freiermuth a lot. They used the middle of the field a bunch. They pushed the ball beyond the sticks on third down.
Oh, and there is the fact that Cincinnati’s defense is pretty lousy this year.
But after the game, head coach Mike Tomlin made one fleeting reference to something he felt helped Pickett.
“I thought we spread the ball around. We changed things up schematically with different launch points,” Tomlin said.
Launch points? I followed up with Tomlin about where he was coming from with that analysis. He didn’t provide much more context.
“I just thought we were thoughtful and intentional about changing the launch points some on first-and-10,” Tomlin said. “We started the second half with a screen, things of that nature. Just working to keep the defense off balance. Stay a step ahead.”
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How did all that translate? One thing was apparent: There seemed to be more clean passing lanes and open throwing alleys for Pickett to exploit.
Center Mason Cole had a theory as to why.
“You are trying to find ways where you aren’t one-on-one pass protection the whole time,” Cole said. “Moving the pocket is really good. It makes the field short for the quarterback and receivers. It’s an easy read. We’ve been pulling a little more. So some of our trap-pass play action has been really good. That mix-up of run, play action, drop back, move the pocket — the more you can do, the better.”
Another thought was that Pickett was perhaps dropping back deeper in the pocket so his vision wasn’t quite as clouded standing in a predictably anchored position behind a bunch of 6-foot-6, 300-pound Goliaths on both sides of the ball.
After all, Pickett doesn’t have the 6-foot-5 stature Ben Roethlisberger had to not only survey the field above all that muddled mass of hulking bodies up close but also was able to deliver unencumbered over it.
Pickett is a few inches shorter and may need a few more steps of depth. But he insists that there was no emphasis given to dropping deeper in the pocket.
Moving the pocket, though, may have been a different story.
“I don’t think so,” Pickett said of lining up deeper. “I think we moved the pocket before (Cincinnati). But (we) continue to do that and use my athleticism and get out of the pocket. Just another element to our offense.”
Regardless of how or why it happened, Pickett definitely seemed to have fewer crowded passing lanes to deal with against Cincy, and he made the most of it.
“When you’re talking about the boot game, stuff like that, a lot of times it’s in large part the success of your run game because they play off each other,” Faulkner said. “So you may see more of that because the last few games have been getting the run game rolling.”
Whatever the case, Pickett is coming off his most complete passing game of the season, and now he faces an Arizona defense that is allowing 358.5 yards per game (26th in the NFL) and 26.8 points per game (31st in the NFL).
So there is every reason to hope whatever formula worked in Cincinnati last week will work again this week at Acrisure Stadium.
If the Steelers can get 400 yards of offense, can they get 30 points on the scoreboard? With … wait for it … all 30 coming from the offense?
It’s officially December now. The Christmas season is upon us. Maybe we will witness an early holiday miracle.
Listen: Tim Benz and Joe Rutter look at the Steelers-Cardinals game and the big picture of the Steelers’ offense.