Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Kenny Pickett sustained a knee injury during Sunday's blowout loss to the Houston Texans. The second-year QB went down late in the fourth quarter clutching his knee after taking a sack on fourth down.
Fans held their breath as Pickett was aided off the field by trainers. The team quickly ruled him out of the game, but because the Texans don't have an MRI machine, we couldn't get a diagnosis of the damage.
On Monday morning, NFL Network's Ian Rapoport offers an update on the Steelers quarterback. Rapoport said that Pickett 'will miss some time with the knee injury, but it's not believed to be season-ending.
From @GMFB: #Steelers QB Kenny Pickett will miss some time, but his knee injury is not believed to be season-ending; #Bengals TE Tee Higgins has a rib fracture; #Giants RB Saquon Barkley is doubtful for tonight. pic.twitter.com/HOGnQqFYoZ
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) October 2, 2023
The ACL appears to be intact. This is believed to be an MCL sprain and possibly a meniscus tear. All things considered, this is good news. We still do not have a timetable for Pickett's return, but he won't be playing this week.
Steelers need to see as much of Kenny Pickett as possible
While Pickett wasn't playing great football for the Steelers this is a sizeable blow to their team and one of the last things that fans wanted to see. Dating back to his rookie season, Pickett still only has 16 starts (17 games) under his belt.
This is hardly a big enough sample to make a determination on whether or not he indeed is the quarterback of the future. The Pittsburgh Steelers really needed to get a great feel for Pickett this year. In today's NFL, QBs aren't given long before the team decides to move in another direction, and with the way things were going, we have to think the team wasn't too far away from considering other options.
We hope that Kenny Pickett can make a speedy recovery and a quick return to the football field. This is a huge year for the Steelers QB. He's either going to turn it around or we will figure out that he isn't a franchise quarterback.
The Steelers host the Baltimore Ravens for a huge divisional game on Sunday before heading into their Week 6 bye. Stay tuned for updates on when Pickett will be able to return.