The Pittsburgh Steelers fell to 1-3 on Sunday after losing 24-20 to the New York Jets.
Pittsburgh’s loss, however, was far from the big story of the game.
In the second half, Mike Tomlin benched Steelers quarterback Mitch Trubisky in favor of rookie Kenny Pickett.
Pickett proceeded to throw for 120 yards on 10-of-13 passing. He also threw three interceptions.
Those three interceptions led to a few headlines like this one:
Kenny puts the 'pick' in Pickett with three INTs https://t.co/nrbmibWCw3
— NBC Sports EDGE Football (@NBCSEdgeFB) October 2, 2022
Whoever wrote that headline — “Kenny puts the Pick in Pickett with three INTs” — obviously didn’t watch the Steelers’ game on Sunday afternoon.
Because if they did, they wouldn’t have used that headline.
Pickett’s first interception — which came on his first pass attempt — was a 50/50 ball that was tipped. Nothing about the interception was on Pickett.
And his third interception came on a Hail Mary attempt at the end of the game.
The only interception that was somewhat on Pickett was a pass he tried to get to tight end Pat Freiermuth, which should’ve been caught.
he threw it 5 yards over his head on purpose 😢 freiermuth should catch that 😢 not his fault that he has no velocity on his throws 😢 pic.twitter.com/to4sBVIsL4
— alobi (@al0b1) October 2, 2022
Pickett took the blame for the interception after the game.
Kenny Pickett on the interception on the throw to Freiermuth: "I wanted it higher than that. Either pat was going to get it or it was going to be out of bounds. I didn't put it high enough. … I can't make that mistake."
— Brooke Pryor (@bepryor) October 2, 2022
Pickett would’ve been wise to just throw that one away, but he put the ball in a catchable spot. Freiermuth just didn’t make the play.
So no, Kenny didn’t put the Pick in Pickett. He just had some bad luck. And anyone watching the game would’ve noticed that.
Featured image via Philip G. Pavely-USA TODAY Sports
