The Pittsburgh Steelers saw another solid performance from rookie quarterback Kenny Pickett, who helped orchestrate a 16-13 comeback victory over the Baltimore Ravens to keep their slim playoff hopes alive.
It was Pickett’s second consecutive game-winning drive, which helped them stave off postseason elimination and Mike Tomlin’s first losing season as a head coach while also earning Pickett his first game ball awarded by the “Sunday Night Football” crew.
“I’ll probably send that back home to my parents and they can put that one up in our house,” Pickett said, according to ESPN’s Brooke Pryor.
“I can’t say enough about our young quarterback,” Tomlin said of Pickett. “He smiled in the face of it. He’s always ready to be that guy in the moments that we need him. And it’s just good to see the young guy. We marched forward.”
Pickett credited running back Najee Harris when accepting the game ball, talking about his late-game connection with Harris to rally the Steelers. Pickett became the first rookie since at least the 1970 merger to throw a go-ahead TD in the final minute of regulation in back-to-back games, per ESPN.
“He did a great job of extending and slipping past the linebacker,” Pickett said. “I just wanted to extend long enough to where those guys could free themselves up a little bit.”
“Confidence that I had in myself is showing up on the field, and I think guys are starting to feel that, which is always good,” Pickett said. “Going into the huddle and seeing how confident everyone is, as a quarterback you know they have a lot of belief in you, and I have a lot of belief in those guys in the huddle. When that is there you definitely have a shot. So, it’s a step in the right direction. There’s a lot of business left to take care of.”
