Former Steeler quarterback Ben Roethlisberger recently discussed an interesting trait he has in common with Pittsburgh’s young Kenny Pickett.
Roethlisberger announced his retirement after 18 seasons in 2022. As soon as the two-time Super Bowl winner left the court, the Steelers signed Mitch Trubisky and Kenny Pickett to replace the vacant position.
The Steelers initially intended to keep Trubisky in the final squad and give Pickett some time to become more experienced. However, the 28-years old was substituted for Pickett after three unimpressive games. Not to mention, Pickett’s addition didn’t benefit the Steelers much as the team continued to lose in the 2022 season. The “signal caller” started the season in a bad form while gradually got better following the bye week.
What surprising trait does Ben Roethlisberger share with Kenny Pickett?
The Steeler’s former star QB recently made a special appearance on 105.9 The X on the Mark Madden Show.
The TV host Madden asked the NFL legend, the former quarterback of the Pittsburgh Steelers, about the team’s QB replacement, Kenny Pickett. The anchor asked Roethlisberger what qualities Pickett needs to have to be successful in his role as a quarterback.
The media person added how long it might take for Pickett to be compared with other successful quarterbacks like Peyton Manning, Philip Rivers, and even Roethlisberger himself. Finally, Madden asked Roethlisberger what Pickett can do to reach that level of success.
“Winning always cures all those things… I said this on the podcast, he’s surprised me. I apologized to him for thinking less. I think he’s much better with his feet, his legs and his mobility than I anticipated. Maybe it’s just me not watching enough Pitt ball. I thought that he could move and extend plays and not just extend plays behind the line of scrimmage, but get yards down the field. He will be able to use that to take him to the next level when it comes to working at that elite level.”
Pickett replicating Roethlisberger’s performance on the ground
When Big Ben retired, admirers were concerned about the potential gap in performance, however, many fans claimed over time that Pickett filled the gap of the former QB. The host Madden brought up the topic to ask what aspect of Pickett’s game Roethlisberger would like to add to his game when he was on the court, and he hinted at an answer if that would be Pickett’s incredible ability to run in comparison to his extending plays.
Roethlisberger in response praised the young talent stating Pickett incredibly had been picking up 10,15, and 20 yards a clip.
“There’s a difference between extending a play, which I always felt that I can do, and running. And he can run, he extends it when he puts his head down and goes downfield. He’s picking up serious yards. He’s picking up 10, 15, 20 yards a clip. That’s the difference, his actual running ability”, he stated.
The host later stated Pickett’s lackluster performance, albeit he mentioned that the new QB passed the ” eye test ” according to maximum analysts.
In light of this, Roethlisberger talked about his similarities to Pickett, emphasizing once more that he had previously misjudged the Steller’s star since, in his opinion, Pickett had appeared underconfident at the time. However, after occasionally watching Pickett play, he changed his mind and drew similarities between himself and Pickett as both of them have a never-give-up mentality.
