Kenny Will Be Fine

[Orangesteel]

As we approach the post-Pickett era (thank god) in Pittsburgh being training camp is only a few weeks away, I want to touch briefly on the single most annoying phrase that I read on this esteemed website while #8 was back there missing wide open receivers, putting balls in the dirt, spinning into sacks and injuring himself, and just generally playing historically bad football.

“Kenny will be fine.”

I am too lazy and incompetent to go back and pull all of the threads where I was assured Kenny would be fine. I know that on Reddit, that terrible and destitute place, the phrase was said over and over again on the daily. Everyone was convinced that Kenny would be fine. He either needed a new OC, more time in the pocket, more weapons, more brains, more snaps, whatever it may be, but I needed to relax because he would be FINE.

Thank god he’s gone. And he may not be fine.

[langer]

Kenny is going to start over Hurts. MARK MY WORDS.

[Ice]

Kenny is going to start over Hurts. MARK MY WORDS.

I mean, Bubby played some decent games in Philly post-Steelers, so there's precedent. Man, after living in northern DE and hearing it about Pickett from Iggles fans for two years... the schadenfreude would be sweet.

[Dan Smith--BYU]

If Dobbs can start somewhere so can Kenny. Don't be surprised if Mason eventually starts as well.

[daikyu]

Pickett did not show the anticipated growth in year 2. There is no guarantee that he will ever show that growth. The big caveat on Pickett is the abysmal offense that he was saddled with. I think that the offensive scheme was enough of a handicap that Pickett could show a lot better than he did with the Steelers.

His attitude at the end was a red flag. Pickett did not handle the situation well and needs to grow up.

[Stosh-67]

Pickett did not show the anticipated growth in year 2. There is no guarantee that he will ever show that growth. The big caveat on Pickett is the abysmal offense that he was saddled with. I think that the offensive scheme was enough of a handicap that Pickett could show a lot better than he did with the Steelers.

His attitude at the end was a red flag. Pickett did not handle the situation well and needs to grow up.

Yes. Probably why the PS purchased a 7 piece luggage set for him during Christmas sales.
Imitation leather.

I think that the offensive scheme was enough of a handicap

on the other hand, you do not have to watch many other teams game plan, scheme, play call and coordinate an NFL offense to realize, Mike Tomlin's offense is, well............. uncoordinated.

[zeke5123]

Pickett did not show the anticipated growth in year 2. There is no guarantee that he will ever show that growth. The big caveat on Pickett is the abysmal offense that he was saddled with. I think that the offensive scheme was enough of a handicap that Pickett could show a lot better than he did with the Steelers.

His attitude at the end was a red flag. Pickett did not handle the situation well and needs to grow up.

A few things:

1. Every college player has a chance to grow. The question is what are their toolkits and what level did they start at. Pickett was never a big time prospect. Not a big recruit out of high school. Marginal college career until an overaged final year that was weird due to covid response and having a superstar WR. He was basically a fourth round talent stupidly taken in the first. If he had gone anywhere other than Pitt I doubt he’d have been drafted.

2. He didn’t have huge tools. The thinking on him was low ceiling high floor. The problem is he actually wasn’t NFL ready. So what was there to like? If he maxed out he’d be average.

3. Yes he was saddled with a shitty offense. But he frequently missed wide open receivers because he couldn’t go through progressions, ran out of clean pockets, and had terrible accuracy. The scheme wasn’t good but neither was he!

[K_C_]

Pickett did not show the anticipated growth in year 2. There is no guarantee that he will ever show that growth. The big caveat on Pickett is the abysmal offense that he was saddled with. I think that the offensive scheme was enough of a handicap that Pickett could show a lot better than he did with the Steelers.

His attitude at the end was a red flag. Pickett did not handle the situation well and needs to grow up.

A few things:

1. Every college player has a chance to grow. The question is what are their toolkits and what level did they start at. Pickett was never a big time prospect. Not a big recruit out of high school. Marginal college career until an overaged final year that was weird due to covid response and having a superstar WR. He was basically a fourth round talent stupidly taken in the first. If he had gone anywhere other than Pitt I doubt he’d have been drafted.

2. He didn’t have huge tools. The thinking on him was low ceiling high floor. The problem is he actually wasn’t NFL ready. So what was there to like? If he maxed out he’d be average.

3. Yes he was saddled with a shitty offense. But he frequently missed wide open receivers because he couldn’t go through progressions, ran out of clean pockets, and had terrible accuracy. The scheme wasn’t good but neither was he!

I'll say it again: Tomlin and Canada coached the balls off of Pickett. Christ, they tried to coach the balls off the Roethlisberger his final few years. They neutered both of these motherfuckers. Ben complained about not being allowed to audible and everybody here had eyes. Ben hated Canada's conservative offensive system where we handed off and threw short of the sticks for 3 quarters then, when we were losing, we gave Ben the keys. Rinse and repeat.

You see, Ben had a pedigree. He could handle that type of bullshit and still pull out some victories in the 4th quarter. Pickett didn't have Roetlisberger's knowledge or confidence but let's remember, Kenny ended his rookie year on a really high note. Dude had how many come from behind, final drive TD passes for wins?

It looked to me from the jump in Pickett's second year that he had been given an edict to take care of the ball. Do not take chances. Do not force throws. A field goal is fine, etc. Pickett looked MUCH worse his second year and I can't put all of that on Kenny because though he looked like shit for the most part, Pickett played really well the first game after Canada got fired, then regressed for a half vs the Cardinals and got hurt.

That was the end.

I wouldn't be at all surprised, in a place like Philly, that he could show really quickly that he still has what it takes to be an NFL starter. I 100% understand the Steelers moving on from Pickett, but the Steelers are much more to blame than Kenny himself. Dude was set up to fail.

Ask Ben Roethlisberger what playing for Matt Canada was like.

[SteelerDayTrader]

If Dobbs can start somewhere so can Kenny. Don't be surprised if Mason eventually starts as well.

[Deebo]

Kenny is going to start over Hurts. MARK MY WORDS.

Avatar bet on this?

My condition would be: outside of injury/rest to Hurts, Kenny will not start a RS game for the Iggles

[RemoAZ]

Pickett did not show the anticipated growth in year 2. There is no guarantee that he will ever show that growth. The big caveat on Pickett is the abysmal offense that he was saddled with. I think that the offensive scheme was enough of a handicap that Pickett could show a lot better than he did with the Steelers.

His attitude at the end was a red flag. Pickett did not handle the situation well and needs to grow up.

A few things:

1. Every college player has a chance to grow. The question is what are their toolkits and what level did they start at. Pickett was never a big time prospect. Not a big recruit out of high school. Marginal college career until an overaged final year that was weird due to covid response and having a superstar WR. He was basically a fourth round talent stupidly taken in the first. If he had gone anywhere other than Pitt I doubt he’d have been drafted.

2. He didn’t have huge tools. The thinking on him was low ceiling high floor. The problem is he actually wasn’t NFL ready. So what was there to like? If he maxed out he’d be average.

3. Yes he was saddled with a shitty offense. But he frequently missed wide open receivers because he couldn’t go through progressions, ran out of clean pockets, and had terrible accuracy. The scheme wasn’t good but neither was he!

I'll say it again: Tomlin and Canada coached the balls off of Pickett. Christ, they tried to coach the balls off the Roethlisberger his final few years. They neutered both of these motherfuckers. Ben complained about not being allowed to audible and everybody here had eyes. Ben hated Canada's conservative offensive system where we handed off and threw short of the sticks for 3 quarters then, when we were losing, we gave Ben the keys. Rinse and repeat.

You see, Ben had a pedigree. He could handle that type of bullshit and still pull out some victories in the 4th quarter. Pickett didn't have Roetlisberger's knowledge or confidence but let's remember, Kenny ended his rookie year on a really high note. Dude had how many come from behind, final drive TD passes for wins?

It looked to me from the jump in Pickett's second year that he had been given an edict to take care of the ball. Do not take chances. Do not force throws. A field goal is fine, etc. Pickett looked MUCH worse his second year and I can't put all of that on Kenny because though he looked like shit for the most part, Pickett played really well the first game after Canada got fired, then regressed for a half vs the Cardinals and got hurt.

That was the end.

I wouldn't be at all surprised, in a place like Philly, that he could show really quickly that he still has what it takes to be an NFL starter. I 100% understand the Steelers moving on from Pickett, but the Steelers are much more to blame than Kenny himself. Dude was set up to fail.

Ask Ben Roethlisberger what playing for Matt Canada was like.

Agree 100%. I don't know how you can look at what they turned Ben into at the end of his career and how the offense looked after he was gone and feel good about evaluating any young QB this team would bring in. Tomlin only let them open the offense up a little at the end of last year because he was terrified he was going to lose his meaningless streak. Then, of course, his same vanilla game plan got smoked in the playoffs like usual. "Coached the balls off of him" is the perfect summary of Kenny's time here. He will never have the talent to overcome a bad offense like what Ben did when Arian's had him running for his life. Ben could shrug off guys and still keep his eyes looking down field until he found someone open. He was a freak of nature. Just look at how many QBs Arian's got killed after Ben to see how great he was. Kenny isn't anywhere near that and Tomlin's overly conservative, don't turn the ball over mandate squashed the confidence he had coming in which was his biggest asset. He may never turn into a decent starter in the league but the best decision he made was to force his way off this team. The rest of us get to enjoy 4 more years of this shit.

[langer]

Kenny is going to start over Hurts. MARK MY WORDS.

Avatar bet on this?

My condition would be: outside of injury/rest to Hurts, Kenny will not start a RS game for the Iggles

I was joking, sorta.

One thing Kenny had was awareness of his self-consciousness. He was too concerned with how he looked and not what he needed to do to change the culture. he should have started a war and gone all in. He lacked that edge, the eye of the tiger, the killing attitude.

Would another certain Pitt QB have done differently? Would he have demanded Canada be fired immediately after dealing with Mickey Mouse Harry Highschcool bullshit? I tend to think he would have gone scorched earth after ripping off some rails.

Easy for me to say. Just my $0.02 looking from the outside. Kenny just sorta coasted through, he quit. His body language sucked and his attitude was awful.

[Deebo]

Kenny is going to start over Hurts. MARK MY WORDS.

Avatar bet on this?

My condition would be: outside of injury/rest to Hurts, Kenny will not start a RS game for the Iggles

I was joking, sorta.

One thing Kenny had was awareness of his self-consciousness. He was too concerned with how he looked and not what he needed to do to change the culture. he should have started a war and gone all in. He lacked that edge, the eye of the tiger, the killing attitude.

Would another certain Pitt QB have done differently? Would he have demanded Canada be fired immediately after dealing with Mickey Mouse Harry Highschcool bullshit? I tend to think he would have gone scorched earth after ripping off some rails.

Easy for me to say. Just my $0.02 looking from the outside. Kenny just sorta coasted through, he quit. His body language sucked and his attitude was awful.

I feel ya, man.

Don't get me wrong, I think Tomlin and his merry band of idiot coordinators did KP no favors. But to succeed as a legit NFL QB, you have to have that 1 trait that's visible on tape. KP doesn't have 1 trait where you go "wow". That will sink his prospects no matter if he's toiling for the Steelers or is under Andy Reid's tutelage.

[stillthere]

Kenny is going to start over Hurts. MARK MY WORDS.

Avatar bet on this?

My condition would be: outside of injury/rest to Hurts, Kenny will not start a RS game for the Iggles

What if it is due to injury but he pulls off a Nick Foles and takes the Lombardi to Philly? Does he get a statue?

[Orangesteel]

Kenny is going to start over Hurts. MARK MY WORDS.

Avatar bet on this?

My condition would be: outside of injury/rest to Hurts, Kenny will not start a RS game for the Iggles

What if it is due to injury but he pulls off a Nick Foles and takes the Lombardi to Philly? Does he get a statue?

Big Prick Pick?

[zeke5123]

Again people who focus on the shit offense ignore the fact that Pickett was a shitty prospect. No pedigree coming out of high school. No college success until weird final year. No stand out tool. Overaged.

Would Pickett play better in a better offense? Of course. Would he be a good QB? Extremely unlikely.

[W&M_Steeler]

We're so bored collectively that we're discussing Kenny P? We need training camp to start.

It's hard to sort out how much of the problem with the offense was Canada and how much was Kenny. I think they were both terrible, resulting in the worst offensive football I have ever watched. Kenny might hang around the league for awhile like a Charlie Whitehurst. I doubt he ever even reaches Matt Schaub level of pretty good.

I'm glad both of Kenny and Canada are gone. My expectations for 2024 are tempered, but the offense can't be worse than what it was. I am at least somewhat excited to see whether Russ has any gas left in the tank.

[jebrick]

I could see him pulling off a Pennington type career.

That was my ceiling for him when he was drafted

[tbsteel]

I could see him pulling off a Pennington type career.

No f’n chance.

[bradshaw2ben]

I could see him pulling off a Pennington type career.

No f’n chance.

I said from the beginning: late career Maddox. He could find himself come in as a backup and make a run for a while.

[Jobu]

Brandon Weeden

[Gonzo]

Kenny Pickett was always going to fail here.

He isn’t a very good QB. He was a mediocre at best QB who should have never been drafted anywhere close to the first round - 5th maybe. I would love to hear one day a honest report of what Colbert, Tomlin and Rooney were thinking - it was fairly ovvious what he was and what would happen with that OL, that HC and that OC.

steelers should have drafted a QB a year or two earlier while Ben was still there to back him yo and learn.

The Steelers O is prehistoric, predictable and very poorly play-called.

For a while we all put blinders on … hoping. But as is always said by folks arguing against … what do we know ! Right - Tomlin and Colbert and Canada are pros …. if anyone fails under them it’s because the player failed not them.

Of course those in charge think their Plan is good - they are smart professionals. Any failure is a failure of execution by the rubes they drafted and acquired. Oh well - those rubes were 9-8 in the end because we are again so smart. It’s a Plan rigged with built in excuses

[Gonzo]

sorry for the silly rant

I am just tired of Tomlin-ball. It’s boring, stale and generally a slow walk to failure

[Jobu]

sorry for the silly rant

I am just tired of Tomlin-ball. It’s boring, stale and generally a slow walk to failure

Artie Smith, babeee! We about to take boring and stale to a whole new level!

[Stallworth16]

Mason Rudolph is the guy I thought we should keep not Kenny. Mason turned around a lost season and got us to the playoffs. And nearly mounted a comeback against superior Buffalo team which our defense could not stop. In those 4 reg season games, Mason had a 118.0 QB rating and a 74.3 completion %, and he unlocked Pickens.

[Ice]

sorry for the silly rant

I am just tired of Tomlin-ball. It’s boring, stale and generally a slow walk to failure

Artie Smith, babeee! We about to take boring and stale to a whole new level!

Hey diddle diddle, Najee up the middle

[Gonzo]

that’s right / it’s pure genius … they are going out retro retro … we gonna do things Woody Hayes wouldn’t even have thought up. something to do with a run, dust and 3rd and 8

[jebrick]

sorry for the silly rant

I am just tired of Tomlin-ball. It’s boring, stale and generally a slow walk to failure

I hate to point out that Tomlin-ball is the same as Cowher-ball which was the same as Noll-Ball. Pound the rock. It only changes slightly when you have a franchise QB. No franchise QB? Pound the rock.

Wins lots of games in the regular season. got to get lucky in the playoffs

[Ice]

Sad but true. Definitely differences between the coaches, but the core offensive principles haven't changed much.

On the other hand, the league as a whole has shifted pretty drastically since the days of Cowher, and even moreso since Noll.

That's going to need accounted for at some point soon.

[Gonzo]

16-8
12-8
8-10

mind you the last one was much better before his epic run.

and the game/league/rules are slightly different now