Steelers Quarterback Kenny Pickett Ripped By Colin Cowherd For Alarming Play In Week 1

Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback, Kenny Pickett admitted that the execution was not where it needed to be on Sunday afternoon against the San Francisco 49ers, who fielded one of the top defenses in the league in 2022. The Steelers' second-year quarterback threw the ball 46 times as the team chased from behind for the whole game. Popular national radio host Colin Cowherd ping-pongs his opinion of the franchise, but was firmly on the negative side after the shellacking Pittsburgh took in Week 1. 

Cowherd hosts the widely listened-to show The Herd on Fox Sports, but also does a podcast called The Volume where he will have additional content covering the world of sports. During a recent episode of the podcast, Cowherd broke down a couple of the games from the first week and was not shy in his assessment of Pittsburgh's starting quarterback. 

"Kenny Pickett appeared to regress," he said. "More frenetic, at times he looked lost, panicked, and hurried. Pickett looked like a kid who needed help."  

He contrasted that to 49ers quarterback Brock Purdy, who was also a 2022 draft pick, albeit with the last pick of the seventh round instead of a first-rounder, like Pickett. He said that Purdy played with purpose and tempo. He added that 2022's 'Mr Irrelevant' continues to improve with every outing. 

Cowherd was seemingly a bit confused about the outcome of the game being a blowout because he didn't see much difference between the talent on the two squads. The one spot where he did see a significant difference was at running back with superstar Christian McCaffery, who had a big day with 152 yards and a 65-yard touchdown to open the third quarter. 

"If you look at the 49ers roster and the Steelers roster, there's not that big of a gap," he said. "Obviously, McCaffery is better than the Steelers running backs, but I don't see one offensive line as staggeringly better than the other. Yet Purdy had time to throw."

He added that Pittsburgh can't use the excuse that Pickett isn't surrounded by weapons, because he is. On offense, Pittsburgh has George Pickens, Pat Freiermuth, Najee Harris, and Dionate Johnson (who was injured in the game) to go with new addition Allen Robinson, who led the team on Sunday with five catches for 64 yards. 

The other unit that Cowherd attacked was the offensive line, which he claims the team has been trying to fix for the last five seasons. The Steelers have endeavored to address it with free agent additions in 2022 and 2023, like Mason Cole, James Daniels, and Isaac Seumalo, but the unit struggled against the 49ers. Pickett was sacked five times and was often running out of the pocket to try to make anything happen.    

Steelers' Mike Tomlin Gets Scathing Criticism From Cowherd

Cowherd is almost like a broken record in his objections to Head Coach Mike Tomlin's limitations as a defensive head coach. He said that while Purdy is not a superstar or even the most talented quarterback, he has the benefit of playing for an offensive genius, Kyle Shanahan. 

He said having a play-caller who understands those limitations allows them to develop game plans to beat up on defensive-minded head coaches. 

He added that Pittsburgh looked ill-prepared to deal with the game plan of the 49ers, and while not a direct shot at Tomlin, it is ultimately on his plate to have his team prepared. Tomlin acknowledged that the coaching needs to improve in his postgame press conference, but he also shared the blame equally with the players and the rest of the staff. 

Pittsburgh has a lot of talent on both sides of the ball. A Week 1 loss shouldn't end all hope of the team being competitive in 2023, but they will need better play in all facets of the game. It starts and ends with Pickett looking more like the "absolute franchise quarterback" that Cowherd saw as he made strides in 2022.

How would you assess Pickett's Week 1 performance? Do you think Cowherd was fair in his judgments?