The Pittsburgh Steelers were a vastly improved football team in the second half of the 2022 season with Kenny Pickett taking over the starting role. He had a budding relationship with offensive coordinator, Matt Canada and that's a main reason why Art Rooney II was convinced that the play caller deserved another shot in 2023. Former Steelers' longtime backup quarterback, Charlie Batch was also impressed with the former Pittsburgh Panther and his development over the course of the season, but has one big caveat regarding his support of the team retaining the offensive play caller.
After being thrown into action against the New York Jets at halftime in Week 4, Pickett made some noticeable rookie mistakes which were expected. He threw seven interceptions to just two touchdowns in total during partial games against the Jets and Tampa Bay Buccaneers and full contests against the Buffalo Bills and Miami Dolphins.
After Week 8, though, Pickett was able to cut down on the turnovers with just one interception while throwing for five scores. He also engineered three fourth-quarter comebacks against the Indianapolis Colts, Las Vegas Raiders and Baltimore Ravens. Batch, during a recent call-in to the Arthur Moats Experience With Deke, said that he was encouraged by what the Steelers' young signal caller was able to do in 2022.
"I liked how he developed throughout the course of the season," he said. "Of course, it was a rough stretch. Anytime you get thrown in during October in a stretch of games that was very brutal, it didn't matter if Mitch Trubisky was starting or not. It was going to be a challenge for anyone. It wasn't too big for him and actually the games slowed down by about the fifth week."
The 2005 Super Bowl winner was an early advocate for Pickett to start games sooner rather than later, but said the time allowed him to settle in and learn how to play at the NFL level. Former Steelers wide receiver, Steven Sims said this was crucial to the offensive developments in the second half and Batch agreed. The former Detroit Lions starting quarterback was behind some of the best fourth-quarter comebacks for Pittsburgh by guys not named Pickett or Ben Roethlisberger.
Batch was incredibly complimentary of Pickett's start against the New Orleans Saints. That's when he really started to believe that he could be the guy in the black and gold for a long time.
"When he played the Saints, I was like this guy seems to have it," he said. "As the game was slowing done you saw him going through his progressions. He showed maturity in leading those fourth-quarter comebacks and what we thought he could be actually showed."
Steelers Former QB Supportive Of Matt Canada With A Condition
Batch is a fan of the team retaining Matt Canada due to the continuity it offers to a young quarterback, but he needs to do something former Offensive Coordinator, Ken Whisenhunt wasn't willing to do for Roethlisberger until he proved it in time.
"They didn't allow him the flexibility to change the play at the line," Batch said. "It wasn't until the playoff run in 2005 that Whisenhunt said 'I trust you fully and want to open it up.'"
He's hoping to see Canada trust Pickett in the preseason to change plays entirely at the line and if the experiment goes well, it could translate extremely nicely into the 2023 season.
Are you surprised it took until the 2005 playoff run for Roethlisberger to have the full ability to change plays? Do you agree that Pickett needs that option in 2023 and beyond?
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