Steelers' Pickett not overreacting to hot start: 'It is preseason'

Despite being excited about his preseason success, Kenny Pickett knows it doesn't mean much ahead of Year 2 in the NFL.

"It is preseason, man," the Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback recently said, according to Mark Kaboly of The Athletic. "Nothing counts, so it is kind of easy to remain motivated because we haven't done anything yet. Everybody understands that."

Pickett has put on a show in two exhibition appearances this year against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Buffalo Bills, completing 9 of 11 passes for 113 yards and two touchdowns. Pittsburgh has scored a touchdown on all three preseason drives with Pickett under center.

The recent performances strongly raised the expectations surrounding a Pittsburgh offense that received a lot of criticism under offensive coordinator Matt Canada in 2022.

"I am not going to lie, it's been good," Pickett added. "We have been keeping (the offense) basic, but we just want to keep executing the offense at the level we are. We just want to continue to do that until we get the full playbook. We have been very vanilla, and we are going to do that until it is time to go."

The 25-year-old also had solid preseason games as a rookie last year. He's now thrown five touchdowns against no interceptions in five career preseason appearances.

This will be Pickett's first full season as an NFL starter. The 20th overall pick in 2022 posted a 63% completion rate with 2,404 yards and seven touchdown passes against nine interceptions in 13 appearances last year. Pickett, who took over as QB1 in Week 5, also scored three touchdowns on the ground and led four game-winning drives.

Several Steelers players praised Pickett during the offseason, including veteran wide receiver Allen Robinson, who said the second-year passer has an "awesome" command of the team's offense. Pittsburgh averaged 18.1 points per game in 2022, the 26th-best mark in the league.