WEBVTT - Segment 2: Why the Offense Should Work 0:00:04.200 --> 0:00:07.640 He's the Drive with Dale Lolly and Matt Williamson on 0:00:07.720 --> 0:00:09.880 your twenty four to seven home of the Black and 0:00:09.920 --> 0:00:12.639 Gold SNR Steelers Nation Radio. 0:00:19.239 --> 0:00:20.920 Welcome back, I'm Dale Lollie. 0:00:21.000 --> 0:00:23.079 He is Matt Williamson and Matt. 0:00:23.120 --> 0:00:27.280 We were just talking about the Browns offensive issues, their 0:00:27.360 --> 0:00:31.080 DVOA and the quarterback problems that they may have or 0:00:31.320 --> 0:00:33.240 maybe they don't. I mean again, I like the Shawan 0:00:33.320 --> 0:00:35.440 Watson as a player, maybe not so much off the 0:00:35.440 --> 0:00:37.239 field stuff, but I. 0:00:37.200 --> 0:00:41.640 Don't know that he can regain what he once was. 0:00:41.680 --> 0:00:42.200 We'll see. 0:00:42.760 --> 0:00:49.760 Yeah, you know, so I'm looking at the Steelers here. 0:00:50.640 --> 0:00:52.960 So last year again, I'm going to go back to DVA. 0:00:55.240 --> 0:00:59.360 They finished eighteenth in total offensive dv OA. This perfect 0:00:59.360 --> 0:01:03.760 footballside in fourteenth and weighted offensive DVA over the course 0:01:03.800 --> 0:01:07.640 of the entire season. Yeah, but if you look at 0:01:07.640 --> 0:01:10.759 the offensive DVA from week ten on, the Steelers were 0:01:10.800 --> 0:01:12.720 tenth in offensive DVA in the league. 0:01:13.880 --> 0:01:16.720 Interesting, you know, So. 0:01:18.480 --> 0:01:20.679 You know, when you start talking about what you know, 0:01:20.760 --> 0:01:24.440 is this Steelers offense going to be better in twenty 0:01:24.480 --> 0:01:27.160 twenty three than it was last year? You look at it, Well, 0:01:27.160 --> 0:01:29.240 they still only averaged eighteen point one points per game. 0:01:29.280 --> 0:01:32.440 And it was it was fourteen points going into that. 0:01:32.480 --> 0:01:35.560 They were averaging fourteen points a game going into that 0:01:35.640 --> 0:01:39.120 Week ten game, and it ended up, you know, over 0:01:39.160 --> 0:01:42.240 those final seven games, they ended up averaging right around 0:01:42.240 --> 0:01:44.559 twenty one points a game, so a full touchdown. 0:01:44.160 --> 0:01:47.920 Better, which huge progress obviously, which. 0:01:47.720 --> 0:01:48.480 Is huge progress. 0:01:48.640 --> 0:01:50.440 I mean, if they made that kind of jump this year, 0:01:50.440 --> 0:01:52.440 you'd be like, oh, you'd be a static. 0:01:52.520 --> 0:01:53.920 Now I don't expect. 0:01:53.520 --> 0:01:56.400 That, right, I mean, that's two huge jumps. I mean, 0:01:56.400 --> 0:01:58.000 that's yeah, prayer in this league. 0:01:58.200 --> 0:02:00.880 The difference here for the steel last year, while they 0:02:00.920 --> 0:02:05.200 were that high in overall DVOA offensively, they were twenty 0:02:05.240 --> 0:02:08.000 fourth in red zone touchdown percentage last year fifty one 0:02:08.040 --> 0:02:10.200 point nine percent yep, yep. 0:02:10.680 --> 0:02:15.040 But they were sixteenth in total red zone trips. 0:02:15.120 --> 0:02:16.720 Interesting, okay, they had. 0:02:16.600 --> 0:02:19.400 Fifty two red zone trips, which was league average basically 0:02:19.480 --> 0:02:23.040 at sixteen. So if you if you get the league 0:02:23.120 --> 0:02:27.000 average in terms of the sixteenth best team in terms 0:02:27.040 --> 0:02:30.399 of touchdown scoring percentage last year, was it fifty five 0:02:30.440 --> 0:02:33.440 point six percent. So all they need to do is 0:02:33.480 --> 0:02:37.320 improve their their red zone percentage by five percent basically 0:02:38.320 --> 0:02:40.280 four percent really, and you're. 0:02:40.200 --> 0:02:43.040 You're you know middle of the pack in terms of scoring. There. 0:02:43.639 --> 0:02:45.720 Add in the fact that they missed a league high 0:02:45.800 --> 0:02:47.240 ten field goals last year. 0:02:47.520 --> 0:02:50.840 Yeah, we talked about that a lot, and that's doubtful 0:02:50.880 --> 0:02:52.000 to happen again. 0:02:52.080 --> 0:02:54.359 Yeah, if it's if you knock that down, if you 0:02:54.440 --> 0:02:55.559 cut that in half. 0:02:55.280 --> 0:02:56.720 Which is certainly doable. 0:02:57.880 --> 0:02:59.960 Chris Boswell, over the course of his career as a 0:03:00.000 --> 0:03:01.360 about a ninety percent kicker. 0:03:02.960 --> 0:03:04.639 He missed eight field goals last year. 0:03:05.040 --> 0:03:05.400 Yeah. 0:03:05.560 --> 0:03:07.720 The other two, the other guys they brought in missed 0:03:07.760 --> 0:03:14.200 two more. Okay, Like, so if that happens, you're going 0:03:14.280 --> 0:03:16.360 to score more points than you did a year ago. 0:03:16.960 --> 0:03:19.520 The fact that you're getting to the red zone is promising. 0:03:21.639 --> 0:03:24.440 I always thought about EPA, and you mentioned where they 0:03:24.480 --> 0:03:26.520 were at. I just want to go back two or 0:03:26.520 --> 0:03:29.400 three minutes. You mentioned from week ten on they were 0:03:29.440 --> 0:03:34.040 what offense was tenth in DVOA. Yeah, an EPA, they 0:03:34.040 --> 0:03:38.080 were fourth, only behind Kansas City, the Lions and the Niners, 0:03:38.160 --> 0:03:40.880 you know what I mean. Like, so anyway you cut it, 0:03:40.880 --> 0:03:42.720 it was really it was quite good, you know, I mean, 0:03:42.840 --> 0:03:45.760 And is that sustainable? They're gonna be a top five offense? 0:03:45.840 --> 0:03:48.440 I doubt it to be very honest with you, I 0:03:48.480 --> 0:03:51.760 think we're I read an article this week basically recapping 0:03:51.840 --> 0:03:56.120 Kenny Pickett's rookie year, and there's some bad you know, 0:03:56.200 --> 0:03:59.240 but their red zone passing was near the top of 0:03:59.280 --> 0:04:04.360 the list of problem areas, which, folks, every rookie quarterback 0:04:04.360 --> 0:04:06.280 has it, Trevor Lawrence of the year before, blah blah blah, 0:04:06.280 --> 0:04:08.480 blah blah. But I kind of dug up an interesting 0:04:08.520 --> 0:04:11.200 nugget too, because I didn't realize they made that many 0:04:11.280 --> 0:04:14.920 red zone trips until you just said it. But Kenny 0:04:15.000 --> 0:04:21.520 only threw forty seven passes in the red zone. Nineteen 0:04:21.600 --> 0:04:25.320 quarterbacks had more pass attempts in the red zone. And 0:04:25.360 --> 0:04:28.560 remember how injured the league was last year, right right, 0:04:29.640 --> 0:04:32.920 Kenny had forty seven Pat mahomes led the league and 0:04:32.960 --> 0:04:36.680 threw one hundred and nineteen passes in the red zone. 0:04:37.279 --> 0:04:39.400 Now, they had a lot more red zone trips. 0:04:40.360 --> 0:04:42.400 They were probably led the league in red zone trips. 0:04:43.760 --> 0:04:47.800 But Kenny's touchdown numbers when you only throw forty seven 0:04:47.880 --> 0:04:50.920 passes in the red zone aren't going to be high. 0:04:51.000 --> 0:04:53.400 And they really had a hard time scoring from without 0:04:53.480 --> 0:04:56.960 outside the red zone this year, you know what I mean? Yeah, 0:04:57.360 --> 0:05:01.320 opportunities for him to pad his pass stats as you 0:05:01.400 --> 0:05:03.560 might think, I mean forty seven passing attempts in the 0:05:03.560 --> 0:05:04.039 red zone. 0:05:04.120 --> 0:05:06.360 Yeah, I'm just looking at it here. Now. The Chiefs 0:05:06.360 --> 0:05:09.440 had led the NFL with seventy two red zone trips. 0:05:09.720 --> 0:05:11.240 Okay, that doesn't shock me at all. 0:05:11.279 --> 0:05:13.520 They were fifty if they had a sixty nine point 0:05:13.560 --> 0:05:19.040 four red zone touchdown percentage. Okay, So okay, I mean 0:05:19.120 --> 0:05:23.400 you know that's you're not going to get to that, right, 0:05:23.960 --> 0:05:26.719 but if you can get you know, so for example, 0:05:26.760 --> 0:05:29.800 Denver was dead last with thirty six. As I mentioned, 0:05:29.800 --> 0:05:32.520 the Steelers had fifty two, so they were right in 0:05:32.600 --> 0:05:36.120 the middle basically at fifty two between you know, sixteen 0:05:36.440 --> 0:05:39.359 more than Denver, sixteen less than Kansas City. 0:05:40.080 --> 0:05:42.480 Yeah. But again, so if you get to. 0:05:44.680 --> 0:05:46.880 You know, that mid range, you know, you keep your 0:05:47.640 --> 0:05:50.080 you should be better offensively this year if you can 0:05:50.120 --> 0:05:53.480 get that red zone percentage up to I don't know, 0:05:53.800 --> 0:05:55.880 if you can get sixty trips inside the red zone, 0:05:55.880 --> 0:05:57.360 and I say sixty sixties A. 0:05:57.279 --> 0:06:00.680 Lot, a lot. There were only five off defences last 0:06:00.760 --> 0:06:01.880 year had sixty or more. 0:06:02.960 --> 0:06:04.840 So I'm harping on Kenny a lot with this because 0:06:04.839 --> 0:06:06.760 it's fresh on my mind, is what I just wrote about. 0:06:06.839 --> 0:06:11.800 So the team had fifty two red zone appearances. Now 0:06:11.800 --> 0:06:14.320 he wasn't the quarterback on all fifty two, of course, right, 0:06:14.400 --> 0:06:16.800 but he still only threw forty seven passes in those 0:06:16.839 --> 0:06:20.599 fifty two attempts. And I get it because he frankly 0:06:20.720 --> 0:06:22.960 was very bad at it. I mean, he only completed 0:06:23.720 --> 0:06:27.039 forty three percent of his passes from twenty yards and in. 0:06:27.640 --> 0:06:30.320 And he also only completed forty three of his passes 0:06:30.360 --> 0:06:32.719 from ten and in, but that still was only on 0:06:32.760 --> 0:06:36.880 forty seven pass attempts. Now, he almost has to get 0:06:36.920 --> 0:06:39.080 better there, you know. I mean, if he can get 0:06:39.080 --> 0:06:42.200 to a fifty five percent completion percentage in the red 0:06:42.279 --> 0:06:46.000 zone where it's harder to complete passes, then that's going 0:06:46.080 --> 0:06:47.960 to result in a lot more points per game. I mean, 0:06:47.960 --> 0:06:49.760 there's this, no doubt about it. And what do you 0:06:49.800 --> 0:06:51.280 think he's working on right now? You know? I mean 0:06:51.279 --> 0:06:53.320 he knows he wasn't great in the red zone. Yeah, 0:06:53.320 --> 0:06:55.159 and the stillers know he wasn't great in the red zone. 0:06:55.200 --> 0:06:58.360 So you go get Washington and Robinson, who are red 0:06:58.400 --> 0:06:59.760 zone guys, you know. 0:06:59.680 --> 0:07:02.320 What, big guys, right? Yeah? 0:07:02.360 --> 0:07:06.840 I mean, so people might just for for comparison's sakes, 0:07:07.480 --> 0:07:11.120 Patrick Mahomes. When you're talking about the fifty percent completion percentage, 0:07:11.160 --> 0:07:14.680 Patrick Mahomes inside the twenty last year, in his one 0:07:14.720 --> 0:07:16.600 hundred and twenty three attempts. 0:07:16.240 --> 0:07:18.240 Bet at ridiculous completed. 0:07:17.840 --> 0:07:20.440 Fifty percent of his fifty nine point three percent of 0:07:20.480 --> 0:07:23.520 his passes. It's much more difficult down there. 0:07:24.040 --> 0:07:27.000 Yeah, and he was miraculous, and he had Kelsey and 0:07:27.160 --> 0:07:29.640 some of them. I'm not giving Pat Mahomes a hard time, 0:07:29.680 --> 0:07:33.160 but anyone who plays fantasy knows he has five touchdown 0:07:33.200 --> 0:07:36.560 a year on shovel passes that you and I could complete. Yeah, right, 0:07:36.680 --> 0:07:38.320 that gets credit for you know what I mean, Like 0:07:38.360 --> 0:07:40.800 they count his receptions and touchdown throats. 0:07:40.840 --> 0:07:43.480 You know, so some of the other guys who some 0:07:43.520 --> 0:07:45.600 of the guys who actually I'm only going to use 0:07:45.600 --> 0:07:49.800 the guys who threw forty or more passes. Andy Dalton 0:07:49.800 --> 0:07:53.520 was at sixty five point almost sixty six percent. Wow, 0:07:53.640 --> 0:07:55.680 inside the red zone. He had eleven touchdowns and one 0:07:55.720 --> 0:07:58.400 interception down there. Now, remember when we talked about the 0:07:58.400 --> 0:08:02.920 Saints the other day, Juwan Johnson had seven touchdown catches 0:08:03.520 --> 0:08:07.559 your tight end, Yeah, yeah, Dak Prescott sixty five point 0:08:07.560 --> 0:08:11.120 three sixty five point three percent completion percentage down there, 0:08:11.320 --> 0:08:12.520 thirty two to forty nine. 0:08:13.200 --> 0:08:16.160 What did they use? Tight end? Dalton Schultz had a 0:08:16.200 --> 0:08:17.120 bunch of touchdowns. 0:08:17.400 --> 0:08:19.440 Yeah, ceedee, Lambs will go up and get a guy too. 0:08:19.760 --> 0:08:20.840 Yeah. 0:08:20.960 --> 0:08:24.239 Daniel Jones was at sixty three point four percent completion 0:08:24.320 --> 0:08:27.640 percentage in the red zone. He had six He had 0:08:27.800 --> 0:08:31.160 twelve touchdowns on forty one attempts. 0:08:32.320 --> 0:08:34.640 That one doesn't add up to me considering his receivers. 0:08:34.679 --> 0:08:36.480 But good for Daniel, Yeah, good for him. 0:08:36.920 --> 0:08:42.040 Tua Tua was sixty three percent to over sixty is 0:08:42.080 --> 0:08:43.120 really good. Yeah. 0:08:43.440 --> 0:08:45.680 Kirk Cousins was the only other Kirk Cousins and Jimmy 0:08:45.720 --> 0:08:49.000 Garoppolo the only other two quarterbacks who were over sixty percent. 0:08:49.040 --> 0:08:53.240 Aaron Rodgers was right at sixty okay. 0:08:53.280 --> 0:08:56.600 So yeah, I mean, if you're a sixty percent passer 0:08:56.600 --> 0:09:00.199 in today's NFL, for every one of your snaps that's 0:09:00.200 --> 0:09:02.720 frowned upon that used to be, Wow, that guy's completing 0:09:02.800 --> 0:09:05.559 more than he misses. Well in the red zone. It's 0:09:05.559 --> 0:09:06.439 a much different animal. 0:09:07.679 --> 0:09:09.080 Yeah, Oh, there's no doubt about it. 0:09:09.120 --> 0:09:12.840 So for okay, So like Justin Herbert, he had twenty 0:09:12.880 --> 0:09:15.520 touchdown passes in the red zone, he completed fifty eight 0:09:15.559 --> 0:09:21.640 percent of his passes. Joe Burrow had twenty four touchdown 0:09:21.640 --> 0:09:26.600 passes in the red zone he had he had he 0:09:26.640 --> 0:09:29.360 completed fifty eight point seven percent of his passes. So 0:09:29.400 --> 0:09:32.000 if you can get down, you know, and getting here, 0:09:32.440 --> 0:09:34.520 Josh Allen's at fifty three point five percent. 0:09:37.240 --> 0:09:40.880 Wow. Okay, So again, if he can get that number up, 0:09:42.360 --> 0:09:44.200 which I think it only is going to go up. Now, 0:09:44.280 --> 0:09:45.760 is he going to lead the league? Is he going 0:09:45.840 --> 0:09:48.880 to be the most efficient red zone guy? Probably not. 0:09:48.960 --> 0:09:50.960 He's second your quarterback, you know. I mean that that's 0:09:51.400 --> 0:09:53.800 where they all struggle. Lawrence again was terrible in his 0:09:53.880 --> 0:09:57.280 rookie year that way, and even early last year. So 0:09:58.040 --> 0:10:02.320 I think obviously the Steelers are understand this. Picket understands that, 0:10:02.960 --> 0:10:05.839 and their draw season moves have told us the exact 0:10:05.880 --> 0:10:10.280 same thing. Accordingly. Now, the other thing that I dug 0:10:10.280 --> 0:10:12.320 into with this picket stuff, which is more of a 0:10:12.360 --> 0:10:17.920 Steelers offense thing, is they only scored two touchdowns all 0:10:18.040 --> 0:10:24.080 year from outside the red zone. Yeah, only two offenses 0:10:24.160 --> 0:10:28.120 since two thousand have been worse in that regard. Now, 0:10:28.920 --> 0:10:33.000 is explosive plays a problem? Yes, clearly, but they're not 0:10:33.000 --> 0:10:35.360 going to be worse. They're not going to score zero 0:10:35.480 --> 0:10:38.480 from outside twenty. They're not gonna score one, you know 0:10:38.520 --> 0:10:38.880 what I mean. 0:10:39.440 --> 0:10:40.840 Well, and all that stuff too. 0:10:40.880 --> 0:10:43.080 I can remember, I mean you were talking about I 0:10:43.080 --> 0:10:46.000 can remember writing about the you know, week eleven last 0:10:46.040 --> 0:10:49.840 year they still didn't have a touchdown from outside the twenty. Yeah, right, 0:10:50.480 --> 0:10:52.360 it was, it was. It was a big issue in 0:10:52.440 --> 0:10:54.800 the first half of the season. I go back to 0:10:55.120 --> 0:10:58.960 the you know again, you're playing a rookie quarterback for 0:10:59.000 --> 0:11:01.200 a lot of those games, and another quarterback who was 0:11:01.240 --> 0:11:03.680 new to the system. He had a rookie wide receiver 0:11:04.400 --> 0:11:07.480 still getting his feet wet. You know, they were still 0:11:07.480 --> 0:11:10.240 trying to figure out what they wanted to be. Yeah, 0:11:10.360 --> 0:11:13.560 well now they know what they want to be, right exactly. 0:11:13.600 --> 0:11:14.640 They figured things. 0:11:14.400 --> 0:11:19.120 Out, and so I expect that to be better. I 0:11:19.200 --> 0:11:19.520 do too. 0:11:19.960 --> 0:11:22.199 So again, a lot of these numbers are disturbing. I 0:11:22.200 --> 0:11:24.400 haven't wrote those words in my article, folks, this is 0:11:24.440 --> 0:11:27.360 some disturbing stuff. But if you look at it two ways, 0:11:27.559 --> 0:11:31.760 as obviously this is a problem. Obviously they know it's 0:11:31.760 --> 0:11:35.720 a problem, and it probably is nowhere to go but up. 0:11:36.200 --> 0:11:39.960 But this is a crazy bad number Frankly, the Steelers 0:11:40.920 --> 0:11:44.640 touchdown only averaged six point eight yards away from the 0:11:44.640 --> 0:11:49.000 goal line, so their scores average six point eight yards. 0:11:49.720 --> 0:11:52.640 No team over the last thirty years have averaged fewer. 0:11:53.120 --> 0:11:56.480 Like that's kind of crazy, you know, Like their average 0:11:56.520 --> 0:11:59.160 touchdown was less than seven yards away from the goal 0:11:59.200 --> 0:12:02.440 line for the whole year. That's the lowest number in 0:12:02.559 --> 0:12:06.440 thirty years. Like, it's not gonna be They're not gonna 0:12:06.440 --> 0:12:07.160 do it again. 0:12:07.679 --> 0:12:10.400 Right, They're not gonna be worse than that, right exactly. 0:12:10.480 --> 0:12:12.480 You know they're they're going to it's going to go up. 0:12:12.880 --> 0:12:14.920 You know by the way they they went seven and 0:12:14.960 --> 0:12:18.440 two down the stretch exactly exactly, and they play a 0:12:18.600 --> 0:12:20.120 very similar schedule this year. 0:12:20.679 --> 0:12:24.079 Yeah, we're not. They are explosives. So we're gonna grind 0:12:24.120 --> 0:12:26.080 it out a little more. You know who else did that? 0:12:26.160 --> 0:12:27.920 The Chiefs minus Tyreek Hill. 0:12:28.800 --> 0:12:30.920 Right, Yeah, I mean it's just a way. 0:12:32.480 --> 0:12:34.600 I think it's you know, it's a league wide thing 0:12:34.640 --> 0:12:37.840 that that's how teams are forcing their opponents to play 0:12:37.840 --> 0:12:40.160 with a lot of the two high shelves and Okay, 0:12:40.160 --> 0:12:41.120 we're just not going to give. 0:12:41.000 --> 0:12:42.079 Up anything over the top. 0:12:42.520 --> 0:12:44.280 Well that's why you go get a George Pickens to 0:12:44.600 --> 0:12:46.440 kind of take the top off. That's why you you 0:12:46.480 --> 0:12:49.000 add an Allen Robinson, you know, to go along with 0:12:49.000 --> 0:12:52.480 Pat Fryermuth to work that middle and address that and 0:12:52.800 --> 0:12:55.120 and keep those safeties active underneath. 0:12:55.520 --> 0:12:57.280 M hm. You can't just allow them the key on 0:12:57.360 --> 0:12:59.720 a picket and to take it a second elder. 0:13:01.040 --> 0:13:03.000 I don't think anybody out there would argue that Pat 0:13:03.000 --> 0:13:04.960 Mahomes was the best quarterback in the league last year. 0:13:05.600 --> 0:13:09.319 I think Burrow was two and at worst he was three. Well, 0:13:09.360 --> 0:13:13.000 those two, to me, took a massive step forward from 0:13:13.000 --> 0:13:18.040 twenty twenty one to twenty twenty two in one facet 0:13:18.080 --> 0:13:21.440 of quarterback playing, and that is death by a thousand 0:13:21.440 --> 0:13:24.760 paper cuts. If you're gonna play too high and lean 0:13:24.840 --> 0:13:28.800 everything towards Tyreek or Jamar or whoever, I'll dump it 0:13:28.840 --> 0:13:30.800 to the back and pick up six. You know, like 0:13:31.200 --> 0:13:34.680 a lot of these quarterbacks, especially young ones, they're gun 0:13:34.679 --> 0:13:38.160 slingers at heart. The testosterone's flowing. I can't just death 0:13:38.200 --> 0:13:40.240 by a thousand paper cut. And that was the beauty 0:13:40.240 --> 0:13:40.680 of Brady. 0:13:40.840 --> 0:13:41.440 I could make this. 0:13:41.720 --> 0:13:44.440 I could make this s throw in college because you know, 0:13:44.480 --> 0:13:48.280 if they played three they play three defenses. I've seen 0:13:48.320 --> 0:13:50.000 all three of them already. I'm just gonna give my 0:13:50.080 --> 0:13:52.560 guy a chance here. Well, it doesn't work in the NFL. 0:13:52.720 --> 0:13:54.040 And I'm the best player on the field, and I'm 0:13:54.040 --> 0:13:55.920 the first overall pick, and you know, I've been a 0:13:55.920 --> 0:13:59.000 superstar since I could crawl. And frankly, I just get 0:13:59.000 --> 0:14:01.440 impatient because this is boring, dumping it down to the 0:14:01.480 --> 0:14:04.679 backs or a crossing route or a land But the 0:14:04.720 --> 0:14:09.200 best quarterbacks in the league got so much better last 0:14:09.280 --> 0:14:12.360 year and just taking what the defense gives you, and 0:14:12.440 --> 0:14:14.440 I really think the league's going to learn from that 0:14:15.000 --> 0:14:16.240 well in that respect as well. 0:14:16.280 --> 0:14:19.560 And this is something that Matt Canada has referenced, you 0:14:19.560 --> 0:14:22.800 know every time you stalk. The Chiefs were number one 0:14:23.440 --> 0:14:26.160 in the league last year in ten plus play drives. 0:14:27.360 --> 0:14:29.440 The Steelers were second, I say their second. 0:14:29.520 --> 0:14:35.400 Yeah, So Pickett already has that in him to Okay, 0:14:35.560 --> 0:14:37.800 accept what's the defense is going to give you, and 0:14:38.040 --> 0:14:38.360 you know. 0:14:38.480 --> 0:14:40.480 Just play that way. Now. 0:14:41.480 --> 0:14:43.640 The next step for him is then to start hitting 0:14:43.720 --> 0:14:47.160 some of those tight window passes when you get down 0:14:47.160 --> 0:14:49.360 in the red zone. And again, as you mentioned, he 0:14:49.440 --> 0:14:51.400 added a couple of big body receivers to do that. 0:14:51.480 --> 0:14:54.720 I think that's really one of the reasons why. You know, 0:14:54.760 --> 0:14:57.080 when you look at it, they said, Okay, we don't 0:14:57.120 --> 0:15:01.160 need another Anthony Miller here right right, want. 0:15:01.040 --> 0:15:02.600 To go we want to go to the bigger body. 0:15:02.640 --> 0:15:05.320 Yeah, bigger body receiver that can go go get it, 0:15:05.360 --> 0:15:08.320 and you can just box out the cornerback and take 0:15:08.320 --> 0:15:09.720 the football away from them. 0:15:10.160 --> 0:15:12.200 So I said, a lot of stats there that are scary, 0:15:12.280 --> 0:15:15.880 that are not nice, you know, But he already started 0:15:15.880 --> 0:15:17.880 to show it in the second half of the season. 0:15:18.080 --> 0:15:21.720 And I know you and I like Pro Football Focus, 0:15:21.800 --> 0:15:24.360 but you know, some of their stuff's a little so so. 0:15:24.680 --> 0:15:28.320 But their big time throw rate which is a little 0:15:28.320 --> 0:15:32.640 bit gray, and their turnover worthy throw rate is also 0:15:32.720 --> 0:15:36.160 a little gray. But I think they're pretty telling, especially 0:15:36.160 --> 0:15:38.600 when they're this drastic. So listen, this is what I 0:15:38.640 --> 0:15:40.600 wrote about it. During the first half of the season. 0:15:41.440 --> 0:15:45.680 Pickett's big time throw rate was twenty seventh among quarterbacks, 0:15:46.160 --> 0:15:49.840 and his turnover worthy throw rate was twenty fifth. I 0:15:49.960 --> 0:15:52.120 probably surprises nobody. You know, you're at the bottom of 0:15:52.120 --> 0:15:54.600 the league in both There were a lot of interceptions, 0:15:54.640 --> 0:15:56.480 although some of them weren't his fault, but they don't 0:15:56.480 --> 0:15:58.480 Pro Football Focus doesn't blame him for the ones that 0:15:58.560 --> 0:16:00.840 go off Claypool's hands or or you know, that was 0:16:00.880 --> 0:16:06.280 not a turnover worthy play. Conversely, they were. He was 0:16:06.440 --> 0:16:12.040 second and first from week twelve on in turnover worthy 0:16:12.040 --> 0:16:15.440 plays and big time throw rate, first and second, you know, 0:16:15.560 --> 0:16:18.160 behind Burrow was the one, you know, like as good 0:16:18.200 --> 0:16:20.880 as as anyone was in the league during the second 0:16:20.920 --> 0:16:23.920 half of the season. So it's in him, and he 0:16:24.000 --> 0:16:24.800 did it recently. 0:16:25.520 --> 0:16:28.720 So again, this is why when when we look at 0:16:28.760 --> 0:16:34.680 the Steelers within the division and people's you know, I 0:16:34.680 --> 0:16:36.520 think they had the best defense in the division. 0:16:38.080 --> 0:16:40.040 I think it's debatable, but they would be my pick. 0:16:40.320 --> 0:16:41.840 Yeah. 0:16:42.640 --> 0:16:48.480 If they get again average to above average quarterback play, 0:16:48.840 --> 0:16:50.320 they're gonna be a good football team. 0:16:50.560 --> 0:16:53.680 They're gonna be a good football team. Yeah, I very 0:16:53.760 --> 0:16:55.800 much believe that, and. 0:16:55.280 --> 0:16:58.920 And everything with pick it was trending in that direction, right. 0:16:59.440 --> 0:17:02.240 I keep rep this article, but and rarely in articles 0:17:02.280 --> 0:17:04.520 do I say the word I or I think or 0:17:04.600 --> 0:17:07.160 blah blah blah. Yeah, but in the end I wrote, 0:17:07.600 --> 0:17:11.040 I'm very confident that Kenny Pickett is going to take 0:17:11.080 --> 0:17:14.359 a step forward this year, will probably take a step 0:17:14.400 --> 0:17:18.399 forward majorly in these particular problem areas. Because that's what 0:17:18.440 --> 0:17:20.399 he's going to be working on, of course, and the 0:17:20.440 --> 0:17:23.119 team surrounding him with things to make that easier on them. 0:17:23.160 --> 0:17:26.640 Now you know the player better, and I think he's 0:17:26.680 --> 0:17:30.199 going to be a successful quarterback in this league. Frankly, 0:17:30.240 --> 0:17:32.040 when they drafted him, I had my doubts. You know, 0:17:32.040 --> 0:17:34.560 I'm like, I have some questions. I like him more 0:17:34.600 --> 0:17:37.280 and more every the more and more i'm exposed to 0:17:37.359 --> 0:17:39.320 him that I think that's an NFL quarterback. 0:17:39.760 --> 0:17:41.320 To that point, we would have said a lot of 0:17:41.359 --> 0:17:45.159 the same things two years ago about mac Jones. Yes, 0:17:45.359 --> 0:17:46.000 the difference. 0:17:46.680 --> 0:17:51.840 The difference being the Patriots took everything at mac Jones 0:17:51.920 --> 0:17:55.640 had from his rookie year and said, out, we don't 0:17:55.640 --> 0:17:57.560 need an offensive coordinator. We're gonna get rid of that. 0:17:57.640 --> 0:17:59.960 We're gonna let you know, Josh mc daniels has gone. 0:18:00.000 --> 0:18:02.320 And so you let the offensive quardator go. And not 0:18:02.359 --> 0:18:05.280 only do you let your offensive coordinator go, you don't 0:18:05.280 --> 0:18:09.320 bring anybody else in to do that with your second 0:18:09.400 --> 0:18:13.360 year quarterback who had a pretty good rookie year. Oh, 0:18:13.600 --> 0:18:16.359 he had a better rookie year than Kenny Pickett had. Yeah, 0:18:17.040 --> 0:18:18.320 overall stats wise. 0:18:18.040 --> 0:18:19.160 Anywaysts wise. 0:18:19.200 --> 0:18:24.240 Yeah, So you know when people wonder. If people ask, well, 0:18:24.240 --> 0:18:26.840 why did the Steelers keep mat Canada, That's why the 0:18:26.840 --> 0:18:28.240 Steelers kept Mac Canada. 0:18:29.080 --> 0:18:30.920 Change isn't always good, folks. 0:18:31.000 --> 0:18:32.720 Especially with a young quarterback. 0:18:33.880 --> 0:18:35.680 Also, by the way, it was the youngest offense in 0:18:35.720 --> 0:18:37.800 the league Coup by a wide margin. 0:18:37.960 --> 0:18:40.399 Don't ask him to go learn something new. Take what 0:18:40.440 --> 0:18:43.960 you did the year before. Piggyback off of that. Add 0:18:43.960 --> 0:18:46.399 to it. You heard Pickett talk about it during the 0:18:46.440 --> 0:18:49.760 Ota sessions in mini camp. He felt like they were 0:18:49.800 --> 0:18:52.480 so much farther ahead than they were last year at 0:18:52.480 --> 0:18:54.040 this time. Well, you would hope that he would feel 0:18:54.040 --> 0:18:58.240 that way, but everybody on the offense was saying that, yeah, 0:18:58.480 --> 0:18:59.840 because they were all young. 0:19:00.359 --> 0:19:02.200 People, don't look at it from this light too. Well, 0:19:02.680 --> 0:19:05.080 there's two points there is. I'm not saying the other 0:19:05.160 --> 0:19:08.000 ten dudes are a bunch of dummies, but Pickett might 0:19:08.000 --> 0:19:09.800 get it easy. But that doesn't mean all the young 0:19:09.800 --> 0:19:12.760 guys are gonna translate to a new offense overnight when 0:19:12.760 --> 0:19:15.560 you're the youngest offense in the league. And there's so 0:19:15.680 --> 0:19:18.399 many examples, like I pay a lot of attention to 0:19:18.440 --> 0:19:20.200 Luke Getsy because he was a pit with me and 0:19:20.240 --> 0:19:22.679 I root for him. You know, like the beginning of 0:19:22.720 --> 0:19:27.840 the Getsy Fields relationship last year with the Bears was awful, 0:19:28.160 --> 0:19:31.399 you know, like the quarterback and the coordinator were not 0:19:31.920 --> 0:19:34.640 on the same page. I hate that quote or that cliche. 0:19:35.000 --> 0:19:38.399 But then Luke figured out Justin and Justin figured out 0:19:38.440 --> 0:19:40.760 what they could do, and they played to his strengths 0:19:40.800 --> 0:19:43.680 despite not having anything around him and ran the ball 0:19:43.720 --> 0:19:45.879 through their quarterback Like Fields wasn't running the ball in 0:19:45.880 --> 0:19:46.959 the first month of the season. 0:19:47.680 --> 0:19:49.920 Yeah, it was frustrating. If you had him in fantasy, 0:19:49.920 --> 0:19:52.760 You're like, what's going on here? Why don't you try 0:19:52.800 --> 0:19:55.800 to make him a pocket passer? So yeah, someone just 0:19:55.800 --> 0:19:56.200 looks at. 0:19:56.119 --> 0:19:59.200 The young quarterback. Oh, he'll start to learn the league. Well, 0:19:59.240 --> 0:20:01.480