The Pittsburgh Steelers picked up an impressive victory over the Indianapolis Colts on Monday Night Football to end Week 12. While the playoffs may be a longshot for Pittsburgh as they improved their record to 4-8, the rest of this season is about getting rookie Kenny Pickett as many reps as possible so that he can continue his development.
Just as with any rookie quarterback, Pickett has had his share of ups and downs. His performance against the Colts was certainly one of the ups.
The first-round pick completed 20-of-28 passes for 174 yards, adding three carries for 23 yards. After Matt Ryan led the Colts on a touchdown drive near the end of the third quarter to give the Colts a lead, Pickett responded with a nice drive of his own.
The Steelers went 75 yards in 5:21, capping it off with a two-point conversion to take a 24-17 lead, which ended up being the final score. While Pickett didn’t throw or run for any touchdowns, he made all of the plays that he needed to help his team get a victory. His performance was also enough to earn the No. 2 spot in PFF’s quarterback passing rankings this week with a grade of 86.3, trailing only Lamar Jackson.
A big reason Pickett and the Steelers are finding more success is that he has cut back on the turnovers. He threw three interceptions against the New York Jets in his regular season debut and another three against the Miami Dolphins on Sunday Night Football in Week 7 against the Miami Dolphins.
In his five appearances, four starts, before the bye Kenny Pickett threw eight interceptions and fumbled three times, losing one, with only two passing touchdowns and two rushing scores. In the three games since the bye, Pickett has thrown only one touchdown with one rushing score but has zero interceptions and zero fumbles.
They have scored at least 20 points in all three of those games as well after reaching that plateau only three times in their first eight games of the season. The improved ball security has helped keep the Steelers in games, as they are 2-1 since the bye week. If that continues, Pittsburgh is going to knock off some teams for the remainder of the season as the offense is beginning to click.
