Tim Benz: If Kenny Pickett is cleared, Mike Tomlin is right to start him — for 2 reasons

When Pittsburgh Steelers starting quarterback Kenny Pickett left Sunday’s game with a concussion, backup Mitch Trubisky replaced him with a game-winning (and perhaps season-resurrecting) performance.

On Tuesday, however, coach Mike Tomlin announced that — if healthy — Pickett would be the starter this Sunday night in Miami.

“It’s my understanding that his work won’t be limited in any way in preparation,” Tomlin said of Pickett. “We’ll adhere to the protocol, and we’ll follow that and let that be our guide in terms of participation. I’ll say this: If he’s cleared to play, he’ll play. He’ll play quarterback for us. … He’ll be a full participant, is my understanding for (Wednesday).”

In my opinion, that’s the right decision by Tomlin for two reasons. Both are more important to the big picture than just to this Sunday’s game against the Dolphins.

First of all, there is the football aspect. Prior to his injury on Sunday, Tomlin was of the belief that Pickett was the best choice to start at quarterback heading into the contest against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Despite posting a lackluster 67 yards passing into the third quarter, Tomlin showed no inclination to remove Pickett from the game. So it was injury alone that dictated the move.

As a result, if Pickett is deemed healthy, the Steelers should put him back in as the starter, even in the wake of Trubisky’s 144 yards on 9-of-12 passing to extend the lead and secure a 20-18 victory Sunday.

Forget the present, though. This decision is about the development of a first-round draft choice quarterback. That’s not something you fluctuate on a game-to-game basis. It was one thing to do so with Trubisky. He’s a free-agent signee on a two-year deal. Trubisky is on his third team in three years. His contract was structured for this exact, fluid scenario. Having him go from starter to backup and backup to starter is far from a tectonic event.

Yet, when you start doing that with the first-round QB in his rookie season, it can be.

Especially given the force-multiplying fan and media scrutiny foisted on Pickett because he played at Pitt. Once Tomlin made the decision to replace Trubisky with Pickett at halftime of Week 4 and then start him in Buffalo in Week 5, he forfeited the ability to vacillate on the QB situation.

The Steelers have too much invested in Pickett to yo-yo with his starting position if he is medically cleared.

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“We’re not going to blow in the wind. We’re going to be somewhat steady. I’ve been consistent in my messaging regarding decision-making in that position. I think it helps those that are playing. I think it helps the team in terms of who to follow,” Tomlin said.

They weren’t “steady” earlier in the season when Tomlin yanked Trubisky at halftime of the Jets game, just two quarters after he said the coaching staff was “definitively” behind Trubisky following the franchise’s loss in Cleveland.

That said, given the difference in situation, Tomlin can afford to look wishy-washy with Trubisky. He can’t with Pickett.

That’s not fair. But, in pro sports, few things are.

So I agree with Tomlin’s decision on the football front, as I do on the concussion debate. Yes, even though this will be a nationally televised game, in Miami, on the heels of the Tua Tagovailoa situation.

Surely there will be mass pearl-clutching and handwringing over this decision involving Pickett on Twitter. There will be lots of performative “is it really worth the risk?” opinions to read — with each one more gushy and hyperbolic than the last.

No doubt, each one posted by people with the self-aggrandizing goal of proving how much more they care than anyone else on the social media landscape by way of enticing as many likes and retweets as humanly possible.

The thing is the vast majority of those people aren’t going to be doctors. Most of them aren’t labor lawyers, either. And if an NFL franchise follows medical guidance — as outlined in a collectively bargained agreement cosigned by the players union — why should the social media mob and talking heads on ESPN get to overrule policy in the name of optics?

If rules are followed and the player wants to play and the coaches want him to play, why can’t that be enough with a medical green light?

“We feel extremely comfortable about our medical experts in that area, and I’ve been consistent in my messaging in that regard,” Tomlin said. “We just feel really good about our expertise. People from all over the world in football and other sports entities come to Pittsburgh to see our people. We’ll continue to lean on their expertise and follow their lead from a decision-making standpoint.”

I agree with Tomlin’s stance here. Are we listening to scientists, or aren’t we?

When the guardian caps were introduced, everyone on “team player safety” insisted that the science suggests they work. When on-field spotters and immediate-removal-for-concussion testing became part of the game, the rationale was that the doctors know best. As on-field rules have been modified to the point that a legal tackle is no longer recognizable, the narrative has always been that science says the players need further protection. And when personal-welfare decision-making was taken out of the players’ hands and placed into those of independent neurologists, we all applauded because the experts know best.

OK, but when a player is cleared, we don’t trust them anymore? Suddenly we’re all smarter than the doctors because we know how to send the prayer-hands emojis?

I’ve never understood that. I didn’t understand it during the coronavirus pandemic, and I don’t understand it on the concussion front. How do people support any and all safety measures with the blanket statement of “trust the science” until the science says, “it’s time to return to normal,” and then all those same people say, “I dunno, are you really sure? Let’s just stay safe.”

Fine. Be safe. Cancel football entirely, then, because the entire sport is designed to be unsafe.

Another option is that the players union and the league can agree to hard-and-fast rules and put every concussion into one box. Even though that would be intellectually inconsistent with the scientists who say that there is no blanket diagnosis or magical formula to determine the extent of any one concussion versus another nor is there a consistent timeline for recovery that can be universally applied to all patients.

But, by all means, go ahead. Take a stab at it. Write down some rules. What arbitrary period of time will make the world feel comfy? If a player is diagnosed with a concussion, he must immediately sit out … one game? Two games? Three?

And keep in mind, those rules have to apply to a backup free safety in September, just like they have to apply to Patrick Mahomes in the playoffs. Are we clear on that? Does that sound good to everybody?

I mean, what could possibly go wrong there? Like, when it comes to players fudging information about how they feel or making it look like something else is injured besides their head to throw off the spotters.

Or does that concrete concussion injured list idea lead to opposing teams taking dirty runs at other guys on the field? Fifteen yards might suddenly be worth it early in a Week 18 game if you know even a mild headshot to the quarterback you are rushing could result in him sitting out a playoff game if you are potentially going to see his team again in the postseason.

Nah, you’re right. I’m sure none of that will ever happen. I’m just being outlandish.

Or maybe I just have the crazy idea to listen to those who are smarter than me when they say a player is cleared to play under the auspices of the very same rules we are trumpeting.

Play Pickett. Until he proves that’s the wrong call. For either reason.

In today’s Breakfast With Benz podcast, Tim Benz and Joe Rutter examine the Steelers game in Miami Sunday night. They figure out how the Steelers managed to win over Tampa. And they dive into the pros and cons of Kenny Pickett or Mitch Trubisky starting in Miami.

Listen: Tim Benz and Joe Rutter preview Steelers-Dolphins game