After a strong preseason performance, it didn’t take Kenny Pickett too long to replace Mitch Trubisky as the Pittsburgh Steelers’ starting quarterback.
That came at halftime of Sunday’s Week 4 outing against the New York Jets. Trubisky had struggled to the tune of 7-of-13 passing for 84 yards with an interception as Pittsburgh trailed 10-6 at the half. While Pickett would go on to throw three second-half interceptions in a 24-20 loss, he’s now officially QB1.
According to NFL Media’s Ian Rapoport, Pittsburgh has named the rookie first-round pick its starting quarterback moving forward on the season.
Pickett will now get his first chance as an NFL starter on the road against the Buffalo Bills next week. Talk about being thrown into the fire.
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Pickett completed 10-of-13 passes for 120 yards with zero passing touchdowns and three interceptions in the second half on Sunday. Though, he did add two rushing scores to the mix.
“I thought he did some good things. I thought there was some energy there. We scored some touchdowns. But obviously we also turned the ball over.”
Pittsburgh Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin on Kenny Pickett’s Week 4 performance
Prior to Pickett leading Pittsburgh on two second-half touchdown-scoring drives, its offense had put up a total of two touchdowns over the previous six quarters. This unit heads into Week 5 ranked 24th in the league in scoring and 28th in passing offense.
Whether Pickett can be the guy to turn this around remains to be seen. But it’s been clear for some time now that Trubisky is not the answer under center. As for the former Pitt Panthers star, he’s not happy about how his NFL debut went.
“Just disappointed. Wanted to come in and get the win so that’s really just the emotions, just disappointed we didn’t come out with the outcome we worked so hard for.”
Kenny Pickett talking about his Week 4 outing
In addition to going up against Buffalo this week, Pittsburgh must contend with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Miami Dolphins and Philadelphia Eagles ahead of a Week 9 bye. Things are not looking great for the one-win team. At the very least, these Steelers now have a high-upside rookie quarterback under center.