It’s the Christmas season, and I know we’re all supposed to be in a holly, jolly mood, but I’m going to have to be Scrooge for a few minutes.
I’m spending Christmas at Disney, so I’ve tried to stay off social media but had to jump on Twitter yesterday to follow what was happening with the Steelers game.
Boy, was that a mistake.
The rollercoasters at the amusement parks weren’t the only things that made me want to vomit. The way that people, the media in particular, flip-flop their opinions is sickening.
Very, very few of them have the ability to stick with an original take on a game-to-game basis — or sometimes even quarter-to-quarter. It’s a combination of wanting to be the smartest guy on Twitter and having a hot take to fuel their Twitter engagment or talk show.
A couple of prime examples are George Pickens, Kenny Pickett and Mason Rudolph.
All throughout the week, everyone wanted Pickens to be benched and some, including myself, felt as though the Steelers should trade him after the season. But after that all-world performance yesterday, Pickens is OK now and the Steelers have to deal with his behavior.
What a joke. I’m not one of the flip-floppers. Pickens should be gone because he’s a cancer and a bad teammate. I don’t care about the 195-yard, 2-touchdown performance. Bad is bad and despite his all-world talent, Pickens is someone who will eventually destroy a locker room and a team.
More than any team, the Steelers should know this considering some of the other distractions they’ve had on their team over the last 10 years.
Now onto the most talked about topic in town: Pickett vs. Rudolph.
It’s incredible that the Steelers had an All-Pro/Hall of Fame quarterback on their roster for years and never knew it.
That’s an obvious exaggeration but not that much of one if you scrolled through Twitter during and after the game. The interesting thing is I wasn’t reading any of that during the last offseason, during training camp or even at the start of the 2023 season.
I’m searching for a column and trying to remember a podcast during that timeframe when these people were clamoring for Rudolph and had these strong opinions about him.
Why can’t it just be that Rudolph had a really good game and leave it at that? Long-term declarations don’t need to be made like Rudolph is their quarterback of the future and Pickett is a bust.
All I’ll say about Rudolph and his newfound stardom is Jake Browning, Gardner Minshew, Taylor Heinicke and Josh Dobbs. I can go on, but you get the point.
The same people dumping now on Pickett were the same ones designing his bust in Canton a couple of months ago. Hey, I guess whatever it takes to get your engagement going. Credibility be damned.
My opinion about Pickett hasn’t changed and won’t change regardless of what happens the rest of the season. Unlike some, I’m not going to compare Pickett to Joe Montana, Joe Burrow or Patrick Mahomes.
What I’ll stand by is Kenny Pickett is capable of leading a team to the playoffs and winning some games. Has he been perfect or close to it? Hell no, not even close. But he hasn’t exactly been playing with a full deck. That’s not an excuse, it’s reality.
I know if you bring up things such as an offensive coordinator, a below-average offensive line or top playmakers being hurt for extended periods of time, you’re accused of making excuses or sticking up for him because he’s from Pitt. I ignore those people because they’re the same ones who change their opinions daily.
There will come a time soon when Pickett is going to have to get it done and step up and win despite less than ideal circumstances. The great ones do. However, most of the great ones have had more than a full season as a full-time starter.
Flop if you want, but regardless if I’m wrong in the end, I believe that Kenny Pickett is going to get it done in the NFL and it will be as a Pittsburgh Steeler. That’s my opinion and I’m sticking with it, a concept that’s foreign to a lot of people in Pittsburgh.
Now back to Mickey Mouse and Disney.
PREACH!
The Steelers will keep Pickens. Tomlin has never learned the long term damage caused by a cancer, he will make the same mistake again. Pickett is not a starter, should have been a 4th rounder. Let Rudolph throw deep to Pickens the next 2 weeks and increase his value as much as possible. Several glaring issues could be addressed. Sadly this opportunity will go to waste.
To be fair, Kenny has to be much much better at anticipating the receiver coming open vs waiting for it to happen; also he needs to step up in the pocket and stop bailing out at the first sign of pressure.
Mike Vukovcan: I agree with you 100% about both Pickett and Pickens.
I agree Vuk. Pickett had 275 yards and a better completion % than Rudy when he played Cincy. Most yards yesterday were yac. Tomlin even insinuated that his game plan was being more aggressive ( he said desperation). Steeler fans complain that Pickens isn’t following the “Steeler way” yet they are buying his jerseys for Christmas today.
Good perspective Mike! Merry Christmas!
Fans and media are reactionary. A six yard pass with 70 + yac is not necessarily the result of great qb play. I recall Pickett to Pickens on MNF earlier this year with a similar result just not as far. After the first Cincy game everyone was stoked about the offense. Didn’t score a lot but piled up the yardage. Pickett gets hurt early against the cardinals, trubisky comes in and they stink again. Everyone is what have you done for me lately. If Pickett is your guy, you play him. If Rudolph is as good as he looked then… Read more »
So glad to hear someone be honest and doesn’t need clout.. great article!! I totally agree with you! Steeler fans need to stop being hostages of the moment.. people today just don’t seem to know ball,AT ALL!!
Look I am a Mason fan I love his college tape. I really believe he won the QB battle two summer’s ago. I didn’t flip flop and won’t but he played behind that same crap and played better with less playing time. KP has played more games than Mason and he still hasn’t had one game like Mason to his career has 3 out of 10 now 4 out of 11 let’s give him a fair chance to.
Apparently you forgot how Mason played in 2019 with a much better offensive line than he had Saturday. It wasn’t pretty at all, in fact we needed to have a QB named “Duck” replace him, and he got clubbed over the head with his own helmet. He was also in his 2nd nfl season that year. Were you clamoring for him back then? Probably not. Did you flip-flop? Probably.
With that article, you are Mickey Mouse at Disney.
For example? Be specific, please. It will add to the debate.
Well I don’t have a talk show or write columns for newspapers, but if you wanted to track back through my comments over the last couple of years you’d find that I have been on the Mason bandwagen often alone. I believe he’s a superior arm talent to Pickett and certainly Trubisky and has not been developed properly. He’s not afraid in the pocket. He has the arm strength to stretch the field and throws with accuracy. None of these things has been true of the other two.
The guy has a weird release. He can chuck it down field but that’s about it.
Agreed, if he had all the qualities of a starter, why was he not starting for years. He looked good yesterday, but yesterday was a small sample. There were some obvious huge misses on his part as well. The Steelers could have scored 2 more touchdowns as Mason under threw wide open receivers. Mason is better than Mitch, that’s all that can be factually stated.
I believe you are misguided my friend. All those games Pickett won was a fluke. Reasons said is simple. Had our defense given up 21 points in every game played this year we would be 2-11 Pickett is trash.
Maybe, just maybe, your the trash
Randino, guess you missed the timing and ball location on the 15 yd. slant that went for 6.
If Mason throws with accuracy, explain all those open field misses.
I am glad for fo Mason , he seems like a good guy, and kenny does need to step up.
But as I have observed for many, many years the older pittsburgh sportwriters seem to a have bizzarre hate for the University of Pittsburgh Football . It weird even though the deserve it many times .
They cant wait do jump on Pickett, just the way it is in this town.
I agree concerning Picket, but disagree concerning Pickens. Pickens is talented and if the Steeler offense is as good as it should be, then they will have very little trouble with Pickens.
Thanks Mike it’s just so out of hand at this point… great
article!!
I mean that would make sense if it was in anyway based in reality. I mean we have seen tons of good young QBs come in and play great from day 1 even with less than Kenny has had. Not saying Rudolph is the next Ben or anything like that. Reality is Rudolph is a good solid backup. However that’s Pickett’s ceiling. A solid or slightly better BACKUP. He’s gonna basically be nick files almost gets a little luck and doesn’t make too many mistakes. May even win a Superbowl ( under the right circumstances) but that’s it. He’s not… Read more »
Here is where your rambling became a nothing, “ He can’t read the defense any better than a 5th grader studying physics.“. STFU
Well, Pickett did have that one good year out of 6 at Pitt or was it 5 ???
It’s funny because while Rudolph did have a decently good game, some people are acting like he broke records or something. Granted we have seen stagnant offensive outings but it’s not exactly like the second coming of Payton Manning. I bet if he starts next week and stinks it up those same people are going to be like “see! That’s why he’s a 3rd string QB”.
I hope he starts to. that way we see if he can build on a good game and throws for 350 yards and 3 TD.
When will you people realize Pickett isn’t the ticket. Mike Tomzak Jr.
Good Lord. These posts are from a bunch of know it all coaches. Bet none have season tickets. Arm chair coaches at best
Yeah, season tickets prove you know what you’re talking about. Back to whacking off in front of your Pickett poster.
So you are a team mate? In the locker room. Funny, I don’t recognize the name. He’s a kid, but a good one and his team mates get it and so does Mike. You want to worry about a cancer that actually affects your life worry about the bloated yam Trump.
Ummm, what?
I’m surprised Michele, you’re pulling for a white male. Won’t the other rug munchers at your diversity protests be angry?
I’d rather have Rudolph over Kenny but I’m not a fan of the steelers anymore.
I think this article was primarily intended on driving commentary activity.
Why does one have to pick between the three current QB’s? They are all pretty bad in their own right. Kenny Pickoff would have won maybe 2 games this year if not for the awesome defense. Let’s take the Cleveland game for one – how many points did the defense score? How many did they save? Yeah! Enough said. Kenny Pickoff will not be the guy. I said it draft day and have never changed my mind once! Ask my friends who argued with me up until about 3 weeks ago 🙄
Im not a steeler fan but what I’ve seen out of both Kenny and Mitch they both need to go. I kept saying since the season started to put mason in as the starter and they would win games. Sure it was only one game so far but I was right. The whole team played so much better with mason as the QB ffom play one. When either of the other two were in the whole team was garbage on offense averafing only like 2 yards a play. Kenny kept missing his receivers, mitch kept throwing interceptions. The only reason… Read more »
No one is calling Mason Rudolph All Pro. What they are saying is right now he gives them a better chance to win than Pickett does, especially as Seattle and Baltimore have tougher defenses and why? Because the difference between Mason’s game and Kenny’s game is Mason is processed and got to the correct reads far, far better than Kenny has shown he can do. Kenny still locks onto one read and still does not anticipate. A defense as crappy as Cincy’s couldn’t make him pay for that…better defenses will. And sometimes that is the difference between receivers getting YAC… Read more »
Agree whole heartedily. After listening to The Fan the most I’ve listened to it in probably the last 30 years….gotta say Stiller fans aren’t much a cut above WWE fans. Well NFL fans in general. None do any research at all or they would have known the Stillers offense had more yards against the Bungals, back 4-5 games ago (421) than yesterday(397), as well as more 1st downs and Pickett had something like 12 yards less passing, albeit didn’t get the 86 on one throw of 10 yards and 76 on YAC that Rudolph got. The big difference in that… Read more »