KENNY PICKETT (PHOTOS BY COURIER PHOTOGRAPHER BRIAN COOK SR.)
The preseason parade of the Pittsburgh Steelers and their starting quarterback Kenny Pickett has now turned into “Nightmare on Elm Street.”
After the movie had concluded and the house lights were turned up, the final score was Steelers 26, Browns 22, but fans of Pittsburgh and Cleveland had to pose this question to themselves: “Whew, was this a dream? A bad dream?”
On Monday night, Sept. 18, in the case of the Pittsburgh Steelers offense, what you saw was not a dream but real as real could get. It is not a dream that Kenny Pickett appears to be playing like this is his first start in the NFL. His horrible and incompetent performances during the first two games of 2023 are as real as it gets. Unlike the ugly season-opening 30-7 loss to the San Francisco 49ers, Kenny Pickett was aided by the possibly season-ending or career-ending knee injury to the Browns star running back, Nick Chubb.
NICK CHUBB
Pickett continued at times to struggle just to complete the basic tasks of an NFL quarterback. Mundane tasks such as completing passes to open wide receivers as well as escaping the pocket in order to prevent getting sacked seemed to be a bit beyond his comprehension. After Chubb was injured, Cleveland often appeared as if they were playing with one arm tied behind their back. At times, they certainly appeared to be one-dimensional. However, the player that replaced Nick Chubb, running back Jerome Ford, did a phenomenal job of replacing Chubb, gaining 106 yards on 16 carries; a 6.6 yards-per-carry average, slightly higher than Chubb, but his entrance into the game could not cause the Steelers’ defense to respect play-action as much as when Chubb was in the lineup. Also, former NFL running back Mark Ingram had this to say about the hit: “That low hit is so brutal man especially when you carrying someone!! I hate that so much I’m so sick for Chubb man.”
At the time that Chubb exited the game, he had 10 rushing attempts for 64 yards, a hefty 6.4 yards per carry. What was downright depressing was what a few Steelers fans were saying during halftime. One gentleman named “Chad” (I only heard him called by his first name) said the following, and I quote, quote and quote again. “With Chubb being gone, that should make it easier for the Steelers for tonight and even when the Steelers have to play Cleveland in Cleveland.”
THE STEELERS’ NAJEE HARRIS RUNS AWAY FROM A CLEVELAND BROWNS DEFENDER, SEPT. 18. (PHOTOS BY COURIER PHOTOGRAPHER BRIAN COOK SR.)
Steelers Head Coach Mike Tomlin even expressed best wishes to the fallen warrior of the Browns, Nick Chubb. “Can’t say enough about Nick Chubb, man, sending our best to him. Got a lot of respect for that guy.”
I don’t care if the Browns had won the game by the score of 100-0, I would never and no one else should celebrate an injury to a player whether or not they are a fan or foe of Nick Chubb or the Cleveland Browns. Recently, the “Yinzers” were voted the meanest fans in the NFL. Well, judging by the opinion of “Chad,” that “honor” appears to be well-deserved.
KENNY PICKETT
As far as the Steelers’ underperforming offense is concerned, Kenny Pickett had a sort of grateful attitude regarding how the Steelers’ defense bailed out their struggling offense, pointing out that, “90 and 56 are making those kinds of plays and scoring 2 defensive touchdowns.”
Pickett was also asked, “How much of a load does that take off of you guys as an offense?”
He replied: “Yeah, it’s awesome. I mean, you got a defense like that, they make plays and put points up on the board and get those turnovers. It’s unreal as an offense to have that. You know, we want to return that favor though. Those guys (were) out there way too long.
There’s things we got to do a lot better, defensively, to also help those guys out.”
ALEX HIGHSMITH RETURNED AN INTERCEPTION FOR A TOUCHDOWN, EN ROUTE TO THE STEELERS’ VICTORY OVER THE BROWNS, 26-22, ON SEPT. 18.
T.J. Watt talked about how the Steelers’ defense, tired and facing a win-and-lose scenario, allowed them to bend but not break in order for the Steelers to seize victory.
“Yeah, I mean….when your back’s against the wall, man, you have two options and we just really want to be a team that fights back, especially as a defense.” He said. “We want to be a defense that determines outcomes in games, and the only thing we can control is what happens when we get out in the field and there’s going to be so much more that we can improve on. But I’m very glad about the splash that we had tonight, but there’s going to be a lot of stuff to correct as well.”
Let’s hope for the sake of the Pittsburgh Steelers that their offense catches up to and plays with the purpose and resolve of their tenacious defense.
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