It is not exactly a secret that the offense of the Pittsburgh Steelers was not a prolific unit in 2022, but there is one area in particular they must improve upon in order to return to the playoffs. That area? Scoring touchdowns after crossing midfield.
Being able to push the ball into the end zone after entering enemy territory is the hallmark of good offenses and that did not apply to the Steelers last season. Pittsburgh’s 27% success rate was the fourth-worst in the league. The only teams that were worse in this area were the Jets, Broncos, and Colts, not exactly the company that any team wants to be in.
Two of the bottom four teams are near locks to have a better outcome in this area with a new head coach in Denver and Aaron Rodgers making his way to New York. Pittsburgh is not guaranteed to have better results as Kenny Pickett is still a relative unknown commodity.
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The Steelers success in this area falls on Kenny Pickett
Pickett did struggle the further he got away from his own 20-yard line. Seeing his completion percentage go from 68.4 in-between Pittsburgh’s 21-50 to 63.6 from the opponents 49-21 yard line is not ideal, but it is not the biggest issue here. Pickett’s completed just 39.1% of his passes inside the red zone which is far from optimal. That number dropped even further inside the 10-yard line to 38.1%. While the field does shrink the closer to the red zone an offense gets, this steep drop-off is concerning.
For Pittsburgh to be a better team overall in 2023 they are going to need Pickett to play better once they cross midfield. While they may not end up as one the top teams scoring on the other side of the 50, closing the gap between where they are now and the 50% rate from Kansas City would go a long way for the Steelers. If that is going to happen they are going to need Pickett to take the next step in his development. Pittsburgh believed that Pickett can be their next franchise quarterback and he needs to start showing that next season. If he is unable to do so and help improve their scoring rate it could become a big problem for the future of the quarterback position in Pittsburgh.