Who is the most polarizing Steelers offensive player?

[Ron Burgundy]

Pickett is polarizing for several reasons
1. The college he went to. Some people assume that the Steelers were simply being homers drafting him. The reality is they infrequently draft Pitt players despite sharing a practice facility and stadium with them and having more access to them than they do for other colleges… but that is the perception.
2. He has had an extremely lukewarm early career. He has some great comeback wins, a ridiculous number actually… tied for 208th all time with the likes of Tua and Joe Burrow, among a lot of others, but in an extremely small amount of starts… however his flashy stats like Tds or yardage are horrendously low… so some focus on the results and others the stats… which leads them to different conclusions…

The real problem is that when you really go deep in the metrics, you see a foundation for an extremely good player but he needs to move about 5% to 8% of his bad throws into the good throw column to get there… if he can get those bad throws from 20-18% down to 15-13% and the accurate throws up from the low 70’s to the mid to high 70’s… you have an outline of an extremely good Qb… but he hovers down towards mediocre in those stats and the reason is bad footwork and mechanics at times… which is correctable , but only if he trusts his line, and gets the direction to fix it.
So some see potential and others mediocre results right now.


And more perplexing, you see his best successes coming when his downfield targets are higher… when we are most aggressive and attacking the entire field, but those series are limited to before the half and late in the game..

I mean his three worst average targeted air yards attempted came in the Cleveland, Houston, and jags games.. ( though he was injury as he was driving Down the field before the half… so its really incomplete..)
But those were two losses and a game that should have been a loss…
The yards/attempt is really telling..in all 3 losses it was 5 yards or fewer, and in all the wins its 7 or higher…

So here is the question… is the qb not being aggressive down the field because of personal decisions or scheme?

Again depending on what the person believes that shades the opinion of the qb one way or the other

Agree, fixable but due to bad coaching and plays it’s not happening.
Pickett isn’t nearly as polarizing as he would be if they had their usual black third string QB. The Tomlin Fan Club on social media would be all over that.
Agree with an earlier poster who said that if Deuce had any balls he pull Shades into his office, hitch his wagon to Duh, and tell him “Duh is YOUR guy and he’s here because of YOU and if I don’t see at least one playoff win then you’re both out of a job. So make it happen.”

 

[Hines57]

I think Steeler fans have so much hate toward the coaches that players kinda get a pass.

This is true and sad. The FO decided to draft skill players instead of addressing the void left by losing 4/5 OL starters in one offseason and we have not recovered. They could've focused on rebuilding the OL first and we would be a much better team right now; but without a franchise QB. Now we are an average team with some amazing bright spots (TJ, Minkah, Highsmith) and a huge question mark at QB and a walk FA RB.

 

[Badcat]

With so many things wrong with this offense, it's difficult to find one standout player that is the "Most" polarizing. There isn't just one offensive lineman that can be debated as the worst or even the best amongst that group. Tight Ends aren't even a factor in this **** scheme of sideline route trees and poorly crafted concepts. An educated football fan expects a second year Quarterback to struggle and with a porous Line, it's no wonder KP has happy feet and struggles to complete his progressions.

But Warren and Najee...there is a polarizing discussion. On one hand you have this hungry, undrafted running back who fights for every single inch and on the other hand you have a first round draft pick who looks the part but seemingly doesn't even want to be on the field let alone take over a game. How does a 5-8 215lb running back get more yards behind this **** OL than a 6-1 245lb? How does that smaller and lighter Running Back block more consistently? One of them has the attitude and heart of a Pittsburgh Steeler and the other has his head up his ***.

 

[carbonsteel]

The problems are coaching and scheme.
At RB, our problem is our coaches are trying every week to make Najee look like the better RB, but it just doesn't happen.
The performance of our OL dictates that Jaylen will always be more successful. Najee needs an OL like Travis Henry has. I look at them as somewhat similar styles. The problem is Najee is stuck trying to find holes that aren't there. His 1st & 2nd step decision making needs improvement.

Everything about our offensive coaching is bad. Everything. I don't know what is more alarming, the fact that it is that bad, or the fact that management doesn't seem to see that we could fire everyone and hire people in mid-season and make big improvements. Until that realization is made, we won't see a playoff win ever again.

 

[Badcat]

The problems are coaching and scheme.
At RB, our problem is our coaches are trying every week to make Najee look like the better RB, but it just doesn't happen.
The performance of our OL dictates that Jaylen will always be more successful. Najee needs an OL like Travis Henry has. I look at them as somewhat similar styles. The problem is Najee is stuck trying to find holes that aren't there. His 1st & 2nd step decision making needs improvement.

Everything about our offensive coaching is bad. Everything. I don't know what is more alarming, the fact that it is that bad, or the fact that management doesn't seem to see that we could fire everyone and hire people in mid-season and make big improvements. Until that realization is made, we won't see a playoff win ever again.

You're partially correct. It's Coaching, Scheme, and Execution. To your point, the Coaches are absolute **** but firing Canada or anyone else on the Offense doesn't change the fact that the **** playbook, terminology, and blocking schemes remain the same for the remainder of the season. Perhaps the play calling gets better with someone else but that's not much of an improvement. My biggest fear is that Canada's contract is renewed, my second biggest is that it isn't renewed, and Tomlin keeps the playbook and terminology, so Kenny isn't starting at square one next season.

 

[SteveA]

Our offense is offensive

 

[madinsomniac]

You're partially correct. It's Coaching, Scheme, and Execution. To your point, the Coaches are absolute **** but firing Canada or anyone else on the Offense doesn't change the fact that the **** playbook, terminology, and blocking schemes remain the same for the remainder of the season. Perhaps the play calling gets better with someone else but that's not much of an improvement. My biggest fear is that Canada's contract is renewed, my second biggest is that it isn't renewed, and Tomlin keeps the playbook and terminology, so Kenny isn't starting at square one next season.

People don’t realize that it can take years to purge a playbook. It’s rare that changing a coordinator or head coach leads to total revamping of everything… it’s typically done in phases…

Now in some cases, like with cowher, he kept so much from the Erhardt offense throughout his career, as well as a lot of the zone blitz stuff, that changes were more tweaks and wrinkles than overhauls … the philosophies remained the same, it was just adjusted for era and players…

 

[jiminoh]

With so many things wrong with this offense, it's difficult to find one standout player that is the "Most" polarizing. There isn't just one offensive lineman that can be debated as the worst or even the best amongst that group. Tight Ends aren't even a factor in this **** scheme of sideline route trees and poorly crafted concepts. An educated football fan expects a second year Quarterback to struggle and with a porous Line, it's no wonder KP has happy feet and struggles to complete his progressions.

But Warren and Najee...there is a polarizing discussion. On one hand you have this hungry, undrafted running back who fights for every single inch and on the other hand you have a first round draft pick who looks the part but seemingly doesn't even want to be on the field let alone take over a game. How does a 5-8 215lb running back get more yards behind this **** OL than a 6-1 245lb? How does that smaller and lighter Running Back block more consistently? One of them has the attitude and heart of a Pittsburgh Steeler and the other has his head up his ***.

I can't argue any of this, and my eyes see it on the D side as well. It's just a complete cluster from the top (Deuce) to bottom and sideways.