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Kenny Pickett Feels Respected Enough to Hold Steelers Accountable

The Pittsburgh Steelers need to improve and Kenny Pickett feels respected enough by his teammates to be honest about that.

Stephen Thompson

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BUFFALO -- The Pittsburgh Steelers suffered a blowout loss to the Buffalo Bills and moved to 1-4 for the first time since 2019. As the 38-3 final score would indicate, the team needs to make improvements in just about every phase of the game. 

The offense has struggled to score points all season and that didn't change when head coach Mike Tomlin decided to make a quarterback change. Rookie Kenny Pickett threw for 327 yards, but the offense managed just three points and now there is more tough work ahead for Pickett, beginning with holding himself to a high standard. 

"There's no finger-pointing," Pickett said. "I've got to take a lot of responsibility because I'm the quarterback. The team drafted me in the first round for a reason, to play."

This week of practice will involve tough conversations about who needs to be better and Pickett is the starting quarterback but a rookie one. Every quarterback is expected to provide leadership but rookies are generally expected to listen more than they speak. Still, Pickett says he feels he's earned the respect of his teammates and can hold players accountable. 

"Once they drafted me, I wanted to be the guy and a lot of things come with that," Pickett said. I think the way I work and how much effort and time I put in with these guys, the respect is there. So when I'm talking to guys, there's no disrespect, there's no calling each other out. We all want to win."

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Stephen Thompson
STEPHEN THOMPSON

Stephen Thompson graduated with a bachelor's degree in communications and political science from Pitt in April 2022 after spending four years as a sports writer and editor at The Pitt News, the University of Pittsburgh's independent, student-run newspaper. He primarily worked the Pitt men's basketball beat, and filled in on coverage of football, volleyball, softball, gymnastics and lacrosse, in addition to other sports as needed. His work at The Pitt News has won awards from the Pennsylvania News Media Association and Associated College Press. During the spring and summer of 2021, Stephen interned for Pittsburgh Sports Now, covering baseball in western Pennsylvania. Hailing from Washington D.C., family ties have cultivated a love of Boston's professional teams and Pitt athletics, and a fascination with sports in general. 

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