Some people are still mental midgets about a player opting out of a meaningless bowl game .
Sans KP, Steelers the worse for wear....
- Thread starter Parkview57
- Start date
He was healthy for the playoff against the Bills, wasn't he? But the Steelers played Rudolph instead of him.
Doesn't mean they made the right decision but that has been a hallmark of Tomlin's reign. Remember when they started asking Tomlin tough questions right after that game and he had a hissy fit and walked away from the podium?
It appears you do know why it keeps coming up, As for KP being the problem "Time will tell", well it certainly has:
He was active but likely not healthy yet
They certainly couldn’t have played Mitch again
The reason Kenny keeps coming up is your glorious Steelers made him out to be some horrible person who was holding this proud franchise back from being Super Bowl champions. His defensive teammates conspired to bring in his replacement then proceeded to get dog walked by their arch rivals in primetime while weeks earlier he helped his new team clinch the division against his new team's arch rivals with broken ribs and walked off the field to a standing ovation and got the game ball. This is Disney movie 💩.
Yeah, Tomlin's walk away from the podium after the Bills loss was ridiculous and the last straw for me. Dude had it relatively easy for 17 years and when he first felt heat he threw up some attitude and ran away like a coward.
His football team plays the same way.
You think losing 40% of your starters on the offensive line by week 4 might have something to do with it? Not to mention also losing your top backup interior lineman for the entire season. Or that another starting lineman missed half the season?
Can you name another 10-win team that had 40% of their line on the IR by week 4? The only team that I can think of that comes close is Seattle, but they didn't lose either of their IR starters until week 11 and week 13.
8 out of the top 10 least injured teams were in the playoffs, Steelers weren't among those 10.
The Steelers had the 8th most starters/game on IR. Only 3 teams in the bottom 10 made the playoffs (In order of least injured to most)- Texans, Steelers, Lions (Almost all defense).
This is what I don’t get. Football is different but it’s still a workplace, and we’ve all dealt with awful environments and wanted to move to better ourselves if we feel slighted.
The thing I don't get is why would Pickett think he has much ground to stand on in order to defend himself with the Steelers?
As bad as things were with Russ at the helm this year, his numbers absolutely crush what Kenny has shown thus far.
KP's best year (2023 - 12 starts)
62% Comp
6 TD's
4 Int's
81.4 rating
Russ (2024) (12 starts)
63.7% Comp
16 TD's
5 Int
95.6 Rating
The bottom line is Tomlin reached when drafting Kenny. That's not KP's fault.
Agree for the most part but its hard to factor in the impact of Canada as well as the improved OL play this year vs last. But theres no doubt they should NOT have taken KP in the first round that year, let alone any QB that year.
IMO your better off building the OL and Skill positions first and then addressing the QB. You can be a pretty good offense with an average QB and a great OL and decent skill players but the QBs who can elevate an offense with a mediocre OL and skill players are few and far between.
Yeah, but there is a major difference with the Steelers. The two players who had to come in and play were a first round draft pick (who is probably not going to pan out the way they wanted) and a center who was specifically drafted to take over the position and should have been starting week one.
It's not really about his play as much as how he was handled. Doesn't matter how good you are, you don't have to just take being jerked around if you feel like that's what is happening. Probably paid off for him to do that if he was going to be a back up anyway because he landed on a contender.
People fail to recognize that most of KPs time was with Matt Canada. The moment Canada was gone, the offense ran better with KP, then he got hurt. It also ran better with Mason. The big issue was Matt Canada who sucked as an NFL OC and that's why he is currently not in that position anywhere in the NFL. Comparing Wilson's numbers this year to KP's number last year with Canada is apples to oranges.
One big issue with Tomlin is more that there are continual problems with players. From LeVeon Bell and LeGarrette Blunt, to Antonio Brown, to Deontay Johnson and now with Pickens and a disgruntled locker room. I men, where do you point the finger. And to say that it's not his fault there were key injuries on the OL is true, he can't control that. But the Steelers also have the NFL's highest paid defense, and it's not close, but the unit hasn't performed like it.
One big issue with Tomlin is more that there are continual problems with players. From LeVeon Bell and LeGarrette Blunt, to Antonio Brown, to Deontay Johnson and now with Pickens and a disgruntled locker room. I men, where do you point the finger. And to say that it's not his fault there were key injuries on the OL is true, he can't control that. But the Steelers also have the NFL's highest paid defense, and it's not close, but the unit hasn't performed like it.
And now we have zero qb signed going into next year
Russ was a no risk signing since he was free for a year.
But we should have also kept Kenny to learn behind Russ for a year .
The real comparison is Kenny vs Fields .
It's almost as if that was the entire plan had Russ been named the starter. I wonder why that didn't end up happening...
Because Kenny was pissed off he ws lied to about an open competition?
Again, according to?
One side is reported on by multiple reporters, both national and local claiming first-hand knowledge, and arguably the most respected players' coach in the NFL.
The other side is based on the reporting of a single person and the first QB to ever sit out a New Years Six bowl game, didn't bother to thank his team or any of his teammates in his farewell message, had his own teammates wanting his backup to start who then went out recruiting his replacement.
Explain 4/5 seasons with KP as the starting QB at PITT?
Listen Kenny had a great 5th year in college, one of the best all time at PITT. No one can dispute that. Was it an outlier?
If you look at his college and pro careers combined, Kenny has thrown 95 TD's in 82 games. That's a little over 1 TD per game. If you take out the covid year, he's thrown for under 1 TD in each game he's played. The data shows that up until this point, when KP is the QB no matter who the OC is, the ball doesn't get thrown in the end zone very much.
Last edited:
You make a good point but once again, the situation is not static. Until his senior year he had very little talent at the skill positions and was running for his life constantly. One could make an argument that once he got decent protection and had some options to throw to he played up to his potential. No one who has defended KP has ever said he's a high level NFL Qb. But I think you can make an argument that with the right coaching and players around him you can win with him. But again I think you're argument is valid.
There is some truth in that but I would counter that we could look back at Palko's career in a similar situation. I would argue Palko never really had much around him from a receiving standpoint. I mean guys like Kinder, Pestano, Turner, McGee, etc weren't scaring anyone. It was well documented back then Palko had inconsistent offensive line's as well. Yet, Palko crushed Kenny's productivity.
In 35 career starts, Palko produced:
66 TD's
25 Int's
8333 passing yards
In KP's 1st 4 years, he produced:
39 TD's
25 Int's
7,984 passing yards...
I know we can all blame Whipple and Watson but Palko had Cavanaugh for 2 out of 3 years too..
Imagine if Palko had Fitz or Bryant like Kenny had Addison..
Well at least you now understand why Russ chose Pittsburgh with Pickett over the Giants with Jones...
And that one side being reported by multiple reporters, both national and local were feed the information from the Steelers…if they weren’t in the room with Kenny and Tomlin, there would be no way to have first hand knowledge. I’ll say this, we’ve seen at least three cases where players said they were lied to by the Steelers/Tomlin. So there is that.
Jones was released mid season right ?
You need to read my post again -
Russ signed only with the promise Kenny would be traded
Why would he thank his teammates ? He was tradedo
You mentioned the peach bowl
i proved your lie wrong
There was no lie, multiple things can happen at multiple periods and don't have to be tied to a single event, that's how time works. I also mentioned other things that were obvious references to his final months as a Steeler. His farewell snub of the Steelers and teammates was widely reported and remarked upon in sports media. Anyone that isn't an idiot could have put those pieces together...cough.
Literally no one disputes, on either side, that Pickett was the one who requested the trade. It is well known that if you ask Tomlin for a trade, he will try and make it happen if there is any value to be found. "We prefer volunteers, as opposed to hostages."
Tomlin doesn’t make trades
Kenny was traded in March in the offseason before the draft .
You’re simply wrong .
It’s why he was traded literally hours after Russ signed
that was the contingent
Yeah, obviously both side were fed by either Tomlin/Steelers/Wilson camps, and the other by Pickett/his agent/family. But all you ever read when this comes up is "oh the Steelers' PR machine" as if the other story that came out wasn't the exact same thing. So you just have you use your own judgement on which side and story you find more believable.
To me, both Steelers and Wilson said there would be an open competition, wording that changed drastically when Fields came on board and everyone reported that it was very clear that Wilson would be QB1 throughout camp competition. So I also put my opinion behind the guy that has two decades of respect from his peers over a guy that seemed to have a number of coincidental "me first" situations over a relatively short time period.
literally Kenny Pickett's words.
I just thought it was time. It just felt like it was time from the things that transpired and wanted to get a chance to go somewhere else and continue to grow my career.
I like Fields, he is another guy that is easy to root for, I just question his ability to make quick decisions or read defenses all that well, he has started 44 games, not sure "the light comes on" after that much time.
I know Pickett played at Pitt, but if he didn't literally no one on this board would be upset the Steelers traded him.
Mike said "we want volunteers, not hostages." KP didn't want to compete for the job even though he agreed to it earlier in the off-season. Russ even reached out to KP about being excited to compete for the starting job with him.
For a qb he makes a good rb
He’s just not an accurate passer and that won’t change
Similar threads
