Points aside, Steelers QB Kenny Pickett saw positives in 1st game under new offensive regime

What Kenny Pickett saw during film review confirmed what was on display Sunday for the Pittsburgh Steelers offense against the Cincinnati Bengals.

Specifically, that in the first game with Mike Sullivan calling the plays and Eddie Faulkner formulating the game plan, the offense looked better than it had in the previous 10 weeks.

“Obviously, you want more points, but after watching the tape and how we executed in the pass game, the run game, how things balanced off each other,” Pickett said Wednesday, “definitely liked our performance but you want more points.”

The Steelers produced 16 in a victory against the Bengals, which was slightly below the 16.5 average they brought into the game. But Pickett ran the offense more fluidly as evidenced by the Steelers exceeding 400 yards for the first time in 59 games, including all 44 when Matt Canada was the offensive coordinator.

A week after Pickett didn’t have a pass completion of longer than 14 yards in a 13-10 loss at Cleveland, he had six such passes against the Bengals. Three were completions to tight end Pat Freiermuth in his second game back since missing five in a row with a hamstring injury. Pickett also had a 39-yard completion to Diontae Johnson and a 43-yarder to George Pickens.

“The chunk plays were there,” Pickett said. “We had some really good drives working on some long fields. We had some penalties and bad plays take us out of that rhythm. We get rid of that, the points should come.”

Pickett believed the tone was set early in the week when Faulkner devised the game plan with input from other offensive assistant coaches. This began after Canada was fired two-and-a-half years into his tenure.

“It’s game planning, the coverage, having the right call at the right time, getting them into those coverages and the shots we want to take versus the looks we’re seeing,” Pickett said. “We had them, which is great. It all works together. The protection was great, guys were getting open, I was making the throws.

“I want to continue having that great prep. It all happens during the week.”

Which leads to the obvious question of what Pickett expects from the Steelers offense this weekend against the 2-10 Arizona Cardinals.

The response was anticipated.

“Points, points, we want points,” he said. “Yards are great, but point win you games.”