Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Kenny Pickett is under fire after a very rough performance in Week 11, but head coach Mike Tomlin has come to the defense of his young signal-caller.
When asked why he remains confident in Pickett moving forward, Tomlin fiercely defended him.
“Because I work with him every day,” Tomlin said, via the Steelers’ official YouTube account. “I’ve been very transparent about him and his willingness to work. This guy will do anything and everything. He works extremely hard. There’s such thing as football justice and those guys usually get what they’re looking for.”
Pickett went just 15-for-28 with 106 yards in Pittsburgh’s 13-10 loss to the Cleveland Browns this past Sunday in what was just his latest underwhelming outing this year.
On the season overall, the 25-year-old has thrown for 1,722 yards, six touchdowns and four interceptions while completing 60.5 percent of his passes and posting a passer rating of 79.2.
What’s more, Pickett has thrown just one touchdown pass over his last five games and has totaled just two touchdown tosses since the beginning of October.
Pickett, who played his collegiate football at the University of Pittsburgh, was selected by the Steelers with the 20th overall pick of the 2022 NFL Draft.
He made 13 appearances and 12 starts during his rookie campaign, finishing with 2,404 yards, seven touchdowns and nine picks while completing 63 percent of his throws and registering a passer rating of 76.7 in a disappointing debut season.
Pittsburgh’s offense has struggled mightily with Kenny Pickett under center, as the Steelers rank just 28th in both yardage and scoring this year. Pittsburgh fired offensive coordinator Matt Canada on Tuesday, but Canada was certainly not the only issue with the club’s laboring offense.
The Steelers are 6-4 and will head on the road to battle the Cincinnati Bengals this Sunday. They currently sit one-and-a-half games behind the Baltimore Ravens for first place in the AFC North.
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