Anytime you witness a performance like the one we saw from the Pittsburgh Steelers in Week 1, we know there were going to be some stark overreactions and opinions from fans. Mike Tomlin's team had their egos flattened against Kyle Shanahan and an uber-talented 49ers team in the season-opener. Pittsburgh's 30-7 blowout loss has the football world talking about their dismal performance.
But one game does not define what a team will be throughout the course of the season -- especially in Week 1. Over the years, we have seen some pretty wonky things happen in the opening week of the season. Even this year, Joe Burrow and the Cincinnati Bengals were a trainwreck against the Browns in their first game.
Obviously, the Pittsburgh Steelers have plenty of time left in the season to bounce back from an ugly loss, and they will be playing with a purpose of proving the doubters wrong. In the meantime, fans aren't giving them a pass. Here are the biggest overreactions from their Week 1 performance.
Overreaction No. 1: Kenny Pickett isn't good
I'm certainly not going to go on record and claim that Kenny Pickett is guaranteed to be a success. What we saw from the former first-round pick in the opening game of his second NFL season was downright discouraging. But let's not be so quick to rush to conclusions about him being a bust.
It's important to remember that hardly anybody (not named T.J. Watt) showed up to play football against the 49ers in Week 1. Yes, Pickett's performance was bad. He missed a number of easy passes and bailed from the pocket early at times. However, we obviously need to give him more time to prove himself.
Even if you weren't a fan of Pickett since before he was drafted by the Steelers, you have to admit that he made some pretty big plays in big moments last year. Clearly, the overall play has to improve, but let's not write him off after Week 1 in just his 14th NFL game (13th career start). Let's wait and see how he handles this.