Kenny Pickett went down with a knee injury in the Steelers’ Sunday Night Football game against the Houston Texans. Pickett was sacked in the fourth quarter of the team’s 30 to 6 loss. He limped off the field and was taken to the locker room.
What is Kenny Pickett’s Injury?
Steeler Nation held their breath waiting on news about the injury. The first news to come out said it could be a torn ACL or MCL. It could have meant the end of the starting quarterback’s season.
The good news is that the injury is a sprained muscle and bone bruise. The general prognosis is that he will be back in a few weeks at most.
How Bad is Kenny Pickett’s injury?
Pickett’s injury is not nearly as bad as it was initially thought to be, which is a sigh of relief for Steelers fans. Pickett is still a work in progress, and missing a large amount of time right now due to injury could cause a serious setback in his growth and progress.
Pickett is expected to be out for a few weeks. This is anything but a certain timetable, and all football fans know that muscle sprains can be tricky. Pickett could be back as early as the week 5 game against the Baltimore Ravens.
If the team decides to rest him during week 5, week 6 is a bye, so he would have at least two weeks to heal up before the week 7 contest against the Los Angeles Rams.
What Happens If Pickett Is Out?
The Steelers’ backup quarterback is Mitch Trubisky. Trubisky has been a starter in the league before. While he isn’t a top-tier guy or a long term answer, he does have experience and enough talent to pull the team through for a game or two if he has to.
In addition, the Steelers are a ground and pound team, which means, he should be able to get by as a simple game manager if need be.
This injury to the starting quarterback does highlight a couple of problems that the team will have to deal with going forward.
While Trubisky is passable at the moment, he isn’t really a great backup. The Steelers need to consider adding some depth at quarterback. Perhaps drafting a late-round project next year would be a good idea.
The bigger problem that this highlights is the playcalling of Matt Canada which is the likely underlying cause of Pickett’s injury. Fans and sportscasters alike have long ago tired of the Canada problem.
Pittsburgh hangs onto Canada because of his long-standing relationship with Kenny Pickett, but it is Canada that in fact is holding Pickett back and causing the Steelers’ offense to be so one-dimensional. Many former players and experts have been calling for the Steelers to make a change, and the time looks like it has finally come.
Catch NFL Games at Hibernia
If you love to watch a great game, check out Hibernia on Sundays! We’ve got all your favorite teams on big screens with great drinks and awesome food!