After the Steelers’ bad Week 1, fans hoped for a bounce back week against the Cleveland Browns for their quarterback of the future and their top-of-the-line defense.
The Steelers needed a win badly after their terrible performance against the 49ers, but Monday night’s win over Cleveland did not tell the whole story of the game.
Kenny Pickett has started the season completely different to how the preseason had gone. His accuracy has been off, he has struggled to make the right read, and has been taking too long in the pocket.
On multiple occasions last night, Pickett would overthrow or underthrow the man he was targeting. He needs to feed star receiver George Pickens, who had one of the best plays of the night.
He missed open guys as well, settling for a check down that would ruin a drive. That can also be attributed to Matt Canada, the offensive coordinator. He still treats Pickett like he is still a rookie who cannot make a deep throw.
The one positive that Ben Roethlisberger still had in his old age was his ability to get the ball out. People always slept on his ability to get the ball to his man quickly and let them make the plays. Pickett takes too much responsibility and thinks he has to let plays develop and make a read.
Pickett has good speed on his passes but still does not use that skill a lot. He has to be able to use his skills like Ben could to be successful.
The best part of the game by far was the Steelers’ defense. The first play of the game started out with a pick six that should put the Browns to sleep. But once again, the Steelers biggest weakness on the defense surfaced: Stopping the run.
Even after Nick Chubb went down with a serious injury, their backup, Jerome Ford, still dominated the run game. They struggled to tackle running backs in the backfield.
T.J. Watt broke the Steelers’ franchise sack record in the game, along with scoring on a fumble recovery forced by Alex Highsmith, who also had the pick six to start the game. That duo will be the best in the league for the next couple of years.
The Steelers definitely had a better week than before, but they still have a lot of places to improve before they can compete for a Super Bowl. The biggest need in many fans’ eyes is to fire Matt Canada, which may be the change the offense needs to be successful.
