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Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Kenny Pickett warms up prior to an NFL football game against the Los Angeles Rams on Sunday, Oct. 22, 2023, in Inglewood, Calif.
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'Built like that': Kenny Pickett has become the ultimate second-half Transformer

AP

'Built like that': Kenny Pickett has become the ultimate second-half Transformer

For reasons that are as puzzling as they are unexplainable, Kenny Pickett has become the ultimate Transformer.

He is able to be part of a lifeless offense in the first half and turn into some unstoppable Autobot in the second half, as though the playing field has become part of some science fiction action film. It has happened so often in his young career it should be wildly apparent it’s not just a coincidence.

In fact, coach Mike Tomlin said he saw Pickett do that frequently when he was at Pitt, which was one of the things that attracted the Steelers to him in the first place.

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“That’s his ability to rise up in those moments,” Tomlin said Tuesday at his weekly press conference. “We valued that in the draft process. I watched him do it when he was a Pitt Panther. So I don’t know that any of us are surprised by his ability to make the plays that he makes when it gets really thick.”

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Consider:

In the first half of six games this season, Pickett has completed 33 of 60 attempts (55%) for 320 yards with three touchdowns and three interceptions. His passer rating in the first half is 65.97. In that time, the Steelers offense has produced just three touchdowns.

But that all changes after halftime. That’s when Pickett transforms into a Pro Bowl-caliber quarterback who looks as though he has played 18 seasons, not started 18 games.

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He has completed 62 of 90 attempts (68.8%) for 749 yards with two touchdowns and just one interception. His passer rating in the second half is 96.9. In that time, the Steelers have scored five offensive touchdowns.

That was on display again in Sunday’s victory in Los Angeles when he completed 11 of 12 passes for 152 yards in the second half after completing just 6 of 13 passes for 78 yards before halftime. He completed his final nine passes for 140 yards on the final two touchdown drives that produced the 24-17 victory, the Steelers’ fourth in the past five games.

Pickett finished with a 97.1 passer rating after posting a 65.5 rating in the first half. Ho hum, right on schedule.

When asked after the game about his second-half transformations, Pickett said, “It’s not going to be smooth all the time.”

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Perhaps. But it is sandpaper texture in the first half, silky smooth in the second half.

“I think some people are built like that,” Tomlin said. “Some people relish the opportunity, some people really smile in the face of adversity, some people are competition junkies, and I think he’s all of those things. But that’s not something we are just discovering. It’s something that we knew even prior to him being a Steeler.”

Tomlin unclear on taunting call, other penalties

Tomlin said he never received an explanation why a taunting call against receiver Diontae Johnson wasn’t considered a dead-ball penalty instead of offsetting a pass-interference penalty against Rams cornerback Ahkello Witherspoon late in the fourth quarter.

The penalty against Witherspoon would have given the Steelers the ball inside the Rams 20 on the final series, but the gain was negated when Johnson was called for taunting after the play.

According to Section 14, Article 1B of the NFL rule book, “A dead ball foul is a foul that occurs in the continuing action after a down ends, or a taunting foul that occurs at any time.”

That would appear to indicate that Johnson’s penalty should have been marked off from the spot of the pass interference, not negated it.

“I asked that, but in the midst of all the discussions and ongoing things, they never got back to me to explain the reasons why,” Tomlin said. “One [official] said it was considered a continual act, but I never had a conversation with the white hat specifically regarding that.”

Speaking of penalties, Tomlin said some of the seven for 75 yards that were called against the Steelers because he and his staff failed “to feel the tenor of a crew and adjust our behavior accordingly.”

Without doing so, Tomlin was indirectly blaming the officials for being quick to call a neutral-zone infraction against linebacker T.J. Watt on a third-and-12 that allowed the Rams to convert a first down on the ensuing play. Tomlin said some officiating crews will warn the player or coach first before calling the penalty if it’s not obvious or disruptive.

“Sometimes certain crews are more tolerant regarding certain things than others,” Tomlin said. “And that’s just the reality of the National Football League. A lot of crews will warn you when someone’s lined up in the neutral zone or cutting it close from that perspective. Some don’t. It’s our job to get a sense of how the game is being played that day. The worst thing we did in that game is we didn’t have a sense of that tenor.”

Hall of Honor 2023 inductees

The Steelers will induct four former players – defensive end Aaron Smith, linebacker James Harrison, the late center Ray Mansfield and tackle Gerry Mullins – into their Hall of Honor at halftime of Sunday’s game.

Gerry Dulac: gdulac@post-gazette.com and Twitter @gerrydulac

First Published: October 24, 2023, 9:08 p.m.

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