It’s a small sample size, to be sure. But newly minted Pittsburgh Steelers No. 1 quarterback Kenny Pickett quickly showed he is more likely to run, and the Steelers’ offensive braintrust also showed it is more likely to ask Pickett to run than it did Pickett’s predecessors.
In one half of play in his NFL debut during Sunday’s game against the New York Jets. Pickett almost matched the season rushing attempts for Mitch Trubisky through 3 ½ games. Pickett had six rushes for 15 yards; Trubisky has been credited with seven carries for 24 yards.
This can mean two things: Pickett is more likely to scramble, and offensive coordinator Matt Canada is more wont to call designed runs for Pickett than he was for Trubisky or last year for then-39-year-old Ben Roethlisberger.
“How many hits do you want your quarterback to take? There’s got to be a balance there, and we’ve got to be careful with that,” Canada said Thursday. “I love (quarterback running plays), but we’ve got to be smart about it, in my opinion, all the time, and we were before.
“Obviously, we had Mitch score a touchdown (on a rush against the Cleveland Browns) the week before. So … nothing drastically different (in regards to play calling), but I think it’s a very valid question.”
Kenny Pickett takes it himself for his 2ND RUSHING TOUCHDOWN of the day!
— TSN EDGE (@TSN_Edge) October 2, 2022
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Pickett’s runs might not have accumulated massive yardage production, but each of the five that were true runs (one was a botched pitch) were positive plays — four significantly so. Pickett’s first career rush was a QB sneak up the middle on a fourth-and-1 from the Steelers’ 31. His second rush was a sneak from the Jets’ 1, and it resulted in a touchdown.
His third rush was a scramble on third-and-6 that picked up the first down; his fourth was a scramble on first-and-goal from the 2 that resulted in another touchdown. Pickett added a 3-yard scramble on a fourth-quarter, first-down dropback.
Pickett said this week he has confidence in his ability to use the scramble in his game.
“Obviously, I’m not going to rip off 60-yard runs,” he said, “but that’s something I think that if (defenses) drop underneath a lot of things, give me some running lanes, I can use my legs and get first downs. In the red zone it adds another element.”
Kenny Pickett sneaks in for his first career touchdown ????????
— The 33rd Team (@The33rdTeamFB) October 2, 2022
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Pro Football Focus’ charting had Pickett with three scrambles in his one half of play and reported Trubisky had four scrambles in 3 ½ games. It similarly had Pickett with more scrambles than Trubisky during the preseason. PFF’s stats said only eight college quarterbacks in the country last season had more scrambles than Pickett (50 in 13 games for Pitt).
Pickett scrambled as many times in his one half in his NFL debut than Roethlisberger did all of last season. In 31 games his final two NFL seasons, Roethlisberger totaled 16 net rushing yards, or one more than Pickett did in two quarters Sunday.
Pickett was the first quarterback in NFL history to have two rushing touchdowns in his pro debut.
“Mobility at quarterback, some coaches talk a lot about,” Canada said. “It’s obviously a really big part of the game right now. It’s a big part of making the challenge for the defenses.”
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