Hall of Famer discusses struggles of Steelers' Kenny Pickett

Pittsburgh Steelers offensive coordinator Matt Canada is receiving plenty of blame for the struggles endured by second-year quarterback Kenny Pickett this season, but Hall of Famer and current NFL analyst Kurt Warner believes Pickett must do more to help his team and his own cause. 

"Kind of the crazy thing is that -- and I think we saw it last year as a rookie -- he was having a little trouble identifying stuff and kind of getting to the right spot early in the process," Warner said about Pickett during a conversation with Brooke Pryor of ESPN. "He made up for it because he made so many great plays on the move and doing some of those things a year ago. And then you come back to this year and in the preseason, I thought that was the thing that he did so well, is that he seemed to recognize coverage to see what teams were doing to get to the right side or to the right guy very early in the process...And from game one against the (San Francisco 49ers), he has struggled with that."

The Steelers retained Canada this past offseason in part because of how Pickett played over the second half of his rookie campaign. Pickett tossed just one interception after Week 8, and it was hoped as recently as the start of this season that he'd take a major leap by this coming January. 

Instead, Warner and Steelers fans are disappointed with what they've seen from the 25-year-old. According to ESPN stats, Pickett enters Week 7 ranked 32nd in the NFL among qualified players with a 33.5 adjusted QBR, 27th with a 78.8 passer rating and 30th with a 59.7% completion percentage on the season. He threw five touchdown passes and four interceptions across Pittsburgh's first five games. 

"[Playing quarterback] is knowing where you need to start based on what the defense is doing to you," Warner said about Pickett. "And he struggled a little bit with that here early in the season, and that's going to get you in trouble. The game's fast and you're playing against good defenses. Trying to play catch-up when you don't see things and identify things quickly leads to struggles no matter who you are."

Despite Pickett's inconsistent play, the Steelers won three of their first five contests before their Week 6 bye. As of Thursday afternoon, OddsChecker listed 3-2 Pittsburgh as a three-point underdog heading into this Sunday's matchup at the 3-3 Los Angeles Rams. 

"There's enough there to see where you still stay optimistic and excited because you're winning games, you're having success, you're seeing those intangibles," Warner added about Pickett. "You've got all this stuff to build off of...we've seen him do it at times, so he keeps us excited and believing that it's in there, that he's capable of that stuff. We just need to figure out how to get it out of him."