Before Russell Wilson, Pittsburgh Steelers followers beat Mike Tomlin’s chosen quarterback, Kenny Pickett, to dying with one statistic: 1.8 %. That is his profession landing share. Only 1.8 % of the passes he’s ever thrown within the NFL produced a landing. That is the lowest mark in NFL history amongst all gamers with 500 or extra cross makes an attempt.
It doesn’t matter that he went 14-10 as a starter with seven game-winning drives. Who cares if three of these losses got here due to Mitch Trubisky changing him for a lot of the game? He nonetheless, finally, accomplished solely 62.6 % of his passes. Only 42.3 % of his passes produced a profitable play. He averaged solely 179 yards per game.
Pickett began 24 video games in his Steelers profession, producing all of 13 passing touchdowns. The solely quarterbacks to throw fewer of their first 24 begins have been Jim Ninowski, David Whitehurst, Scott Hunter, Gary Huff, Don Heinrich, and Trent Dilfer.
This background makes the interplay between new QB Russell Wilson and Tomlin all of the extra notable. In discussing a game through which he threw for simply 114 yards however with three touchdowns, Wilson stated, “Touchdowns do matter.” Off digital camera, Tomlin stated, “They do, they do!” nodding his head, in accordance with reporters within the room.
When Russell Wilson (26 TD passes final yr) stated, “I’ve never been a numbers (stats) guy; numbers don’t matter — but touchdowns, they DO matter,”
Mike Tomlin (coach of a crew who’s beginning QB had 6 TD passes final yr) nodded and stated, “They do, they do!”
— Chris Adamski (@C_AdamskiTrib) March 15, 2024
Wilson threw 26 touchdowns final season for the 8-9 Denver Broncos. The Steelers as a whole crew produced 25 passing touchdowns because the begin of the 2022 season. On the entire, Pittsburgh fared higher than Denver throughout Wilson’s time there, however the lack of scoring capped their potential.
The Steelers consider Wilson, at an excessive low cost, can unlock that of their offense with new offensive coordinator Arthur Smith. He posted good numbers within the crimson zone final season, whereas Pickett all the time struggled there. Even on the top of his profession late in 2022, he excelled between the 20s, however not within the crimson zone.
“Listen, I’ve never been a numbers guy,” Wilson stated to flesh out his full remark. What I care about, primary, is wins. That’s the very first thing. The second factor is that touchdowns do matter. Those assist these wins and solidify them. I’m used to being ultimately zone, and we’ve obtained to make it a precedence to get in there as a lot as we will.”
Do you assume Tomlin didn’t focus on that in Wilson’s six-hour go to earlier than signing? Even the blindest of the blind understood that the Steelers wanted to attain extra factors. Maybe underneath totally different circumstances, they have been ready to permit Pickett to compete, however apparently, he struggled to deal with the adversity since his damage.
It could also be true that Tomlin instructed him as lately as final week that he would compete for the beginning job, however this goes back to final yr. He didn’t construct a powerful sufficient resume to offer the Steelers conviction to totally back him. Put merely, he didn’t rating sufficient factors. He posted a 0-7 file in video games with out defensive scoring through which the Steelers allowed 20-plus factors. Touchdowns do matter. They do, they do!