The Pittsburgh product threw two touchdowns, and that included the game-winner with seconds left, finding Tyler Vaughns, who slipped away from a defender to complete the pass in the end zone, avoiding the need to attempt a field goal . Coach Mike Tomlin focused only on the positives in his postgame press conference about his first round. “He moved his team. He played situational football. He played with competitive spirit,” he said. “Lots of good things to build on from a first performance standpoint.” But he added all three quarterbacks who played performed similarly. “I thought I could say the same thing about all three, to be honest with you,” he said. “They moved their units, did the informal things that are associated with the position from a leadership and communication standpoint. They got engaged. It was a good first time out for all three. Obviously, we’ll comb it tomorrow and evaluate it that way.” Overall, Pickett completed 13 of 15 pass attempts in his debut, albeit for just 95 yards, but finished with two touchdowns, including a game-winner, for a 132.6 quarterback rating. He also recorded three rushes for 16 yards, showing good scramble ability, including a third down conversion after escaping pressure. Before the rookie came in, Trubisky had a touchdown drive on the Steelers’ opening possession, playing a total of two drives. He completed four of seven passes for 63 yards and a score, finding a wide open Gunner Olszewski, how he had three catches for 47 yards along with the score. Mason Rudolph got a chance to play some fair play after Tomlin initially said he could play the second and third quarters, which gave Pickett a chance to play the entire second half. For his part, the fifth-year veteran completed nine of 15 passes for 93 yards and a deep touchdown to rookie George Pickens. But the story of the night will of course be about the shiny new first-round pick, and the fact that he just drove in a game-winning drive and also scored on his first possession. Never mind that they turned the ball over on downs just before the game-winning drive, the defense got the ball back thanks to a strip sack by rookie inside linebacker Mark Robinson. Regardless, it was an encouraging start for the man the Steelers identified as the potential future of their franchise. And it sure got the crowd going. He may have to wait before he gets a chance to start a game in the regular season, but tonight didn’t feel like a preseason game the way he was greeted.
