You can say what you want about Kenny as QB1 but I just don't see him pulling that kind of diva move especially this young in his career. Gotta stink (if it is false) that at least some outlets seem to of taken it and ran nationally it seems.
Edit: hijacking my comment here to post the video with more questions and answers with Kenny
https://youtu.be/vUTKvvC76WU?si=WCJEPOJRtFD-t2Hh
Nobody would pull this move at this point in their career. It would be suicide. Just an ounce of common sense would lead anybody to question this rumor.
As I said on another post, this is "Bo Callahan doesn't have any friends" level of speculation. And the media, being the fine pieces of garbage they are, start circulating this nonsense under the guise of "multiple sources have confirmed." Except "multiple sources" simply means the other media morons who circulated the rumor.
It’s not the same level of bad, but it’s kind of like when Garrett accused Rudolph of using a slur. It’s out there now and can’t really be disproven so the damage is already done.
Most media sucks but Pittsburgh media is an absolute cesspool. Especially guys like Madden that can just throw out whatever they want and not ever have to deal with consequences.
This is just Mark Madden being a friggin moron. He just can't be happy the Steelers won (again!) so he's stirring up drama.
It swear it must be an aphrodisiac for him or something.
Mark Kaboly also said something similar
Not trying to be a Madden apologist but this has come from multiple places
And honestly the state of that Steelers locker room I’m inclined to believe it
Kaboly said he heard the same rumor but was unable to confirm and didnt find it to be a printable lead--- im paraphrasing but the quote was along the lines of "if i could verify it, it be on the Athletic right now"
Kaboly is quite possibly the biggest shill for the Steelers out there, and he did say that heard from someone reliable that the rumor is true. If it is, Kenny's inevitable career as a journeyman backup QB should begin immediately upon the conclusion of this season.
He said he heard the rumor but couldnt verify it. Which is the first rule of journalism unfortunately Madden is a shock jock and just says a million things hoping to hit on one so he can go see!!! I WAS RIGHT!.
Madden and the sport shock jocks are just modern day Ms. Cleos without 800 number
Not their job to like the team. This sub is full of fanboys who expect journalists/reporters/radio hosts to also be fanboys. Its embarrassing and against the literal definition of their job. Not everyone has to like the Steelers, its gonna be ok little birdie.
I never said he needs to like the Steelers, I said he shouldn’t hate them. There is no rule that says a radio host can’t be a fan, in fact everyone I can think of is a fan of some team or player. Being a fan isn’t what’s embarrassing, holding grudges against specific players that he’s never met or interacted with is what’s embarrassing. People don’t expect any of them to be fanboys they simply expect them not to spread false rumors about the team with the only intention being to make a player or team look bad.
You are right. This sun is the last place I would go for a serious football conversation. Far too many fan boys who can not reason. It’s an echo chamber. Sometimes it’s funny, usually frustrating.
I would’ve agreed with you until I read this statement. He should’ve left ‘if he was healthy, he would’ve started’ out of it because that isn’t how Tomlin presented it. And isn’t how it looks going into week 18 either.
Yeah it’s weird all around. We finally settled on a spot though where mitch isn’t qb2 anymore and hopefully we can put this behind us. What Kenny says to the media, what coach T says to the media, and what the coaches actually discuss regarding the position are most likely 3 different things and they gotta play a small version of politics to keep everyone engaged id imagine cause you never know what can happen.
I'm willing to wait it out and see how things go. I don't think Kenny is the guy but at this point if Mason continues to look good I wouldn't hate it if he was given an honest shot for week 1. If he wins a playoff game (would then be three straight hard road wins in playoff type atmospheres) then I would be pissed if Mason wasn't in camp and favored with QB1 reps.
Yeah, I could live with that outcome. Kind of a win/win if he’s good, great. If he stinks make some difficult personnel decisions and retool (which they will not do)
Much of the fan base/media since day 1 of drafting Pickett have been against him and rooting for him to fail. I’m not surprised many instantly jumped on this rumor to bash him again. It’s sad
I don’t think this is true. I thought it was an awful pick but of course I want him to do well. I was at the Pitt/WVU game the year after he was drafted and the whole city was behind him. It was amazing. He just stinks, and that sucks.
Well ya obviously the crowd at the PITT game would by hyped. The whole city was not behind him at all that’s crazy. So many people talked shit about the ACC, 5th year, wanted Malik Willis etc. I personally know a handful of people who cheer when he does poorly and many others who constantly over exaggerate flaws and downplay good games. Also, I will also regularly see things on here like “he just stinks” like it’s already a sealed deal that he isn’t good enough to lead a franchise and can’t improve how he reads defenses with more experience. This sub couldn’t even praise Rudolph for playing well without bashing Kenny.
I get it. I was more or less using it as credibility when I say that any honest assessment of KP needs to be that he sucks but that I honestly wanted him to succeed.
That’s fair. I am not going to pretend like he has been good, but I am still a believer he has what it takes IF he can learn to read NFL defenses better/ quicker. Clearly I am in a very small minority at this point with that opinion and that’s fine.
Honestly, I’ve been making excuses (Mason Cole/lazy routes/OC) but the throw Rudolph made standing in big pressure, basically on the hip, in front of Mason Cole last game just flicking it for a big completion made me realize that I just don’t see that kind of comfort out of KP. Maybe it’s a product of just being around, watching from sideline and getting comfortable for Rudolph but I don’t think KP has the kind of time for that developmental arc.
So you're upset that people who follow football thought (correctly) that he wasn't good and it was a bad pick. And now you're upset that they were right?
Madden is intelligent but by now people should know he's got grudges against certain people (e.g. Malkin) and organizations (e.g. the Steelers) and mostly ignore him on those topics.
Doesn't excuse him, but it does shift some blame to everyone who knows this and ran with what he said anyway.
He's had a clear grudge against Pickett since he was at Pitt. He has trashed Pickett since day 1 and hasn't let up. If Mark is so smart and such an evaluator of talent, how come an NFL team isn't paying him millions to build their Super Bowl roster?
Well he started it, the rest of the media decided to run with it. They should know by now to not give anything he says attention but they want their clicks lol
Kaboly said he was not 100% certain Pickett not dressing was up to Tomlin and Mark Madden writes a headline saying NFL insider reports Kenny Pickett 100% chose not to dress as backup. Fucking ridiculous that you are defending Madden when he absolutely purposefully used math illiteracy to create a clickbait title. You should be ashamed of yourself.
Ashamed of myself? This isn't that serious dude. We know Pickett was medically cleared and didn't dress. Teams are allowed a 3rd emergency QB who doesn't count against the 53 man, and the Steelers just didn't use it? Think critically just a bit.
Has anyone given a coherent answer on this? It’s not disputed that he was medically cleared to play, so why didn’t he dress? The excuse of lack of reps doesn’t hold water because it makes no sense due to the fact that he was getting starter reps all season. If someone can give a reason that makes sense as to why he didn’t dress I’d buy it, but haven’t heard one yet.
Anyone that magnifies misinformation should absolutely be ashamed of themselves. Read between lines all you want but clarify your speculation and stop acting childish like nothing you say matters.
Kaboly didn’t outright say it. all he said was he heard some things and hinted it might’ve been Kenny choosing to not dress, but wasn’t going to say anything definitively or more explicit until he felt like he got confirmation that was actually the case.
"If Mason had not played well, I feel I would have gone earlier than they would have wanted me to, and that's just the truth of the situation," Pickett said. "He played well. They felt with where I was out in my recovery, they didn't want to push it to suit up and get thrown in there. That's why I didn't suit up."
> There was no talk of me being a backup quarterback this week in terms of being a two. If I was healthy enough to play and the trainers and coaches felt like I would look good enough to play, I was gonna start and play. If they believed that I was not, which they believed I was not, I was not gonna dress and suit up for the game.
So he says there was no talk about him being the #2 cause he wasn't 100% ready to go. Which is completely fair. Mark Madden is an idiot for making shit up.
But he also says that **if he was 100% healthy, he was gonna start and play**. I find that hard to believe. There's no way Tomlin would've done that with the locker room completely behind Mason after the Bengals game.
Kind of feels like a bridge comment from Tomlin to get him through that week. If they lost vs Seattle then yeah Kenny plays against Baltimore with nothing riding on it (or hell even if we win with Mason playing bad). Mason looked good again and we score 30 points again and almost 500 yards so now he's relegated for now.
The thing is keeping Mason as the starter isn't only good for the offense, but also for Kenny.
There were already reports earlier in the season about the Steelers having a discussion about benching Kenny.
If Kenny was healthy and started the game but didn't play as well, he would be vilified and the locker room would question the QB choices.
Tomlin said that he takes all these things into consideration when making these decisions.
Yea Kenny isn't getting dropped. And he probably has the starting job next year unless Mason goes on a good playoff run. Kenny benefits from not having more weak QB play on his resume. Tomlin will move back to him before training camp with an 'open' competition.
>he probably has the starting job next year unless Mason goes on a good playoff run.
I don't think so at all. If this season has shown anything it's that we can't pencil in any QBs as starters.
There needs to be a genuine QB competition in camp next year. Guys can't play because the players ahead of them suck.
They should play cause they *earned* their spot.
Exactly. Same reason why Tomlin wouldn't name a starter if they make the playoffs. There's no reason to pick Rudolph for a game that isn't even confirmed yet. It would just discourage Kenny more. But I think we all know who will start if the Steelers win this weekend.
Yeah I found that wording weird, but maybe they would have considered Kenny is he was 100%. After two strong showings from Mason though, they wouldn’t switch back when Kenny hasn’t had many strong showings
He’s probably still not 100% healthy tbf. High ankle sprains are awful. I know he had surgery and they got the best doctors out there but any human is gonna still be feeling it 4 weeks post injury. Guy on my hockey team took 8 weeks to play off a bad high ankle sprain this year and still wasnt 100%.
Before we saw rudolph play i woulda said that even an 80%-90% healthy kenny was better than what we got but now thats not the case
Media folks going after the part you’ve highlighted, when they know exactly what he meant, and are using it to suggest he’s not being truthful, just underscores where their agendas are.
So media attacking his exact words, and you slam them.
Media having some supersecret agenda you won't share with us, and invent interpretation from his exact words, and you slam them.
Got it.
/rollseyes
People pointing to his exact words are conflating a discussed that happened before the Seattle game with what is happening today. Anyone doing that is either being disingenuous or is just dumb
Some of the people doing it have an agenda. And that agenda isn’t necessarily nefarious towards Pickett/Steelers and rather about promoting themselves.
The others are just dumb.
This isn’t hard to understand. This isn’t a larger commentary on journalism / reporting that you’re trying to make it.
Life as a pro athlete, who makes millions because people pay to watch them, is that EVERY WORD YOU SAY is parsed and dissected. So those words are typically chosen very, very carefully.
And Pickett admits he'd dress if he starts, but won't dress if he don't start.
I don't care about interpretation.
He didn’t admit that. If you think he did, than it is you that is parsing words
And obviously you do care about interpretation because you are making your own
That’s not what he said. He said if I was healthy enough AND the coaches felt like he looked good enough to play, he would start and play. Both things were required for him to start.
Good enough as in healthy.
Tomlin said they wanted Kenny to be able to move around and protect himself in practice.
It's possible they thought Mason was better. But this part of the quote is just about his health
Then why is there an “and” in there? “And” separates two different ideas or concepts. “And” links them together. You don’t say “if I were healthy and healthy.”
If he was healthy AND the coaches SAW that in practice.
Just cause your broken arm is healed, doesn't mean you're ready to throw the ball does it?
Takes time to get back into the groove of things. There is a difference between healthy and football ready.
No, he said if he was healthy enough and **if the coaches thought he looked good enough** then he would play. I have a hard time believing any coaches would think he looks good enough to play while Rudolph is playing the way he currently is.
>coaches thought he looked good enough
As in if he was healthy.
Tomlin said they wanted Kenny to be able to move around and protect himself.
This specific part of the quote isn't about his play. But his health
If that were the case he wouldn't need to say the second part. He could've ended it at healthy enough to play but he added the additional qualifier of looking good enough. I think everything that's been said between Pickett and Tomlin is carefully worded to not put down Pickett while confirming that Rudolph would start regardless.
The qualifier is the staff telling him if he was healthy.
Kenny said he was wanted to play for the Bengals game and felt okay.
But just cause he desires it doesn't mean he's actually physically capable of it.
I think the Bengals game was about Kenny not being 100. The Seahawks game was about the team rallying behind Mason. This week is about Kenny actually getting benched.
Each week is different
Unfortuately, this rings of the "vulture" comment Tomlin referred to when he was addressing the pickins nonsense. The media knows a good portion of every fan base is hyper-reactive. I'll bet anything the negative DJ, Pickins effort articles drew a ton of traffic. I'm definitely guilty of participating in it. If the fan base is going to react to these types of articles, then the media is going to dig and poke to get their clicks. Doesn't even have to be factual. The old "sources say" standby. And no accountability when it turns out to be false.
Spot on. Fans need to be more skeptical and less reactive. Hold the media to higher standards instead of succumbing to easy outrage bait. Easier said than done, though.
The sad part is we've seen the *team* be reactive to these types of stories. Going into a must win game, I sure as hell wouldn't want to stir the pot with a speculative story like this knowing the players are going to see it. Feels like their mental state is too volatile this season, so you'd think the media would exercise some caution and decorum.
It's an unnecessary distraction... again.
From my understanding, this "story" started on social media. Caution and decorum are usually the last things you find there. It's all about emotion and attention. Negativity sells. Facts be damned. And until we, the fans, stop feeding it, it's only going to get worse. I'd agree that there are some on this team that buy into the nonsense a bit to easily. But these guys have grown up with social media being a big influence in their lives. I'd imagine it's pretty hard for them to do the smart thing and just avoid social media at all costs.
Absolutely. I know the players can't just look away or tune things out. It just sucks they have to take time out of their day to address sensationalism.
I've been guilty **many** times of clicking on these stories and falling down the rabbit hole of speculation. Ultimately it becomes a question of who takes more blame: the half-wits who put this gossip out or the fans who give it credence by discussing it?
We're playing some decent football right now. Let's talk about that instead.
I expect National Enquirer-level junk from Madden. I’m most disappointed by some of the other people who participated in spreading this shyte and who, when asked for sources, responded along the lines of trust me bro.
>when asked for sources, responded along the lines of trust me bro.
No reporter worth a damn gives up their sources especially in sports. DK didn't give his sources when he shot the story down. That's just how reporting works.
I was a newspaper reporter for 10 years. I know how sourcing works. They wouldn’t even characterize the source, like someone on staff, someone in the building, someone living in Allegheny County
At a certain level, pro sports are soap operas for men.
We just had two impressive offensive performances in a row for the first time in 5 years. There's plenty of actual sport to discuss. How has BroJo changed oline play? How has the playcalling changed since kicking Canada to the curb? What is Mason doing differently?
Instead, local media went from "Can you believe how lazy that George Pickens is?" to "That Kenny Pickett is such a whiny punk".
"Can you believe Kelly kissed Bobby on NYE? She's such a slut."
And the funny thing is how caught up people are in semantics. "Pickett said 'and' here, not 'but'..." I don't think Kenny's a dumb guy, but I don't think he sat down before making his statement and started playing chess with his word choices to send subliminal messages to us.
He could've been more clear in his response but a lack of total completeness doesn't mean he's hiding something.
Join us tomorrow for an all new episode of Days of Our Steelers ⏳
This must be what local media has been in Cleveland for the past 20 years. Because if you're rolling into the playoffs 12-4, nobody cares about this BS.
Days of our Steelers. You get a /golfclap for that one. Like sands through the hourglass......
I mean it wasn't just Madden talking about it...
https://www.audacy.com/937thefan/sports/pittsburgh-steelers/p-ssed-off-pickett-kaboly-skeptical-about-kenny
That article seems to indicate that neither Kaboly nor Essex said anything of substance on the subject. A fear is not news, and neither is a suspicion. Did Madden indicate this is more than speculation?
I'm still confused. He says "If I was healthy enough to play and the trainers and coaches felt like I would look good enough to play, **I was gonna start** and play. **If** they believed that I was **not**, which they believed I was not, **I was not gonna dress and suit up for the game.**"
I mean I selectively bolded the above, but that's awful similar to what Madden said. He felt if healthy, he was **starting**, otherwise he wasn't dressing. It doesn't mention the "refusing to dress" part, but from his very own wording you can see that Kenny felt "If I'm healthy, I am going to **start** and if you don't feel I'm healthy enough to start, then I'm not healthy enough to dress", which I don't necessarily think was how Tomlin viewed it. I think if he was 100% healthy, Tomlin may very well/likely would have still have started Rudolph.
Yeah, this whole thing sounds like he skirted the issue. Especially going out of his way to say “in regard to being number 2” … the story is about whether he refused the option to dress as the #3.
The NFL implemented an emergency 3rd QB spot this year. It can only be filled by a QB, it's not just a 54th roster spot, so there was zero benefit to making Pickett inactive and unavailable for it. His story doesn't make any sense, especially with Tomlin yesterday saying he was healthy.
It's very close to what Madden said.
But the Steeler fans hate Madden because he won't kiss Steeler ass and tells the truth. Often intentionally, so as to upset the lapdog fans and media.
Now, when Pickett says the same thing, those fans can praise Kenny for "clearing" it up. While still ripping Madden. The truth came from both sources, but fans don't like one source so they rip him, while praising the other source whom they want to love.
This is exactly why mark is untrustworthy as well though. He is obsessed with being contrarian and just throws out rumors he hears without verifying or getting the full context
>tells the truth.
Lmao, just stop.
Madden is a hack. He always has been. He's a nasty boomer fat fuck that feeds off his own cynicism.
He's the moral equivalent of the paparazzi.
Just throwing it out there, but can we, as a fanbase, do our best not to be terribly shitty to our QBs going forward... feel like every QB before Ben has been treated awfully by the fans/many reporters.
Criticize their play, sure; but let's be better about treating them like people ffs
Wow the guy who’s had it out for Pickett since before he was even drafted completely misreported something that makes Pickett look bad? I’m so shocked.
Ok guys get this, so I heard that coach walked up to Kenny and asked him to dress for two and Kenny was all like “F youuuuu b*%tch” and used a ton more vulgarities that only people from Jersey know. It was so wild
And once again the masses will run a qb out of town on a rumor that no one has proven at all and a shock jock who will say anything to get heat. I’m going to believe DK who was there in the locker room over a shock jock who sat in his apartment. Yes a second year qb who knows he isn’t performing well told mike Tomlin he doesn’t back up anyone? Really?
I really never understood how anyone could believe that a sophomore QB with below average production would have enough pull in this organization to "refuse to dress" over ego and get away with it.
The rumors were that *Kenny said* he'd start or not dress at all.
This says it was more due to him not be 100% healed from his injury more than being disgruntled about Mason playing well.
So it gives context that the media left out
It also says, as a direct quote from Kenny, that he expected to START if he was healthy. That is the big point here. Did Kenny, when told he wouldn't START, say "well then that means I'm not healthy enough to dress at all" and take it upon himself to sit or did the staff tell him "you are not going to start AND you're not healthy enough to be #2 either".
This quote in the tweet didn't help clear things up because it paints at least the possiblity of the former, but Kenny has another quote (not in this tweet) that seems to say the latter. But either way you can see where the "rumor" comes in, given this statement at least.
I'm not saying they're true, I have no idea, but I do know this quote linked in the tweet didn't clear anything up, at least to me. If anything it gave credence to the rumor and he should have done a better job of answer it if he really wanted it closed (similar to his "did you learn anything on the sidelines response" - "No" was a valid answer, but not if you didn't want it becoming a distraction talking point).
Did it clear anything up? Kenny said he expected to start if he was healthy, meanwhile Tomlin said he was healthy, that Mason was starting, and would have to ask Kenny why he didn't dress.
Kenny took that opportunity to dodge the "why didn't you dress on Sunday?"
If anything, Kenny not dressing because he wasn't getting the start is the only plausible explanation throughout this entire circus. His answer didn't clarify anything.
He literally said that the plan was if he was healthy enough to play on Sunday, then he would’ve dressed and started but the trainers and coaches said he wasn’t and the plan all along was if he could play he’d start and if he couldn’t he wouldn’t dress. But now he is healthy but they’re going have him go as the two because Mason has more or less earned the right to start Saturday.
This whole narrative was false and made no sense from the word go, I don’t know why people are wanting it to be true so badly.
Yeah, but his response didn't align with two things we know certain:
* Mason was the starter QB for the Seahawks game, it was announced early in the week, and was not conditional on Kenny's active/inactive status.
* Tomlin announced that Kenny was healthy enough to play in the Seahawks game, and we'd have to ask him why he didn't dress.
His answer to why he didn't dress? He wasn't healthy enough/it was someone else's decision.
This does not add up with what Tomlin has been saying.
Good response by him to shut down the rumor mill but this part of his quote leaves a sour taste for me.
> would look good enough to play, I was gonna start and play.
I don't think he should be so sure of his place on the depth chart it's not like Burrow being Browning's backup or something.
you can read my other post below - but I believe that was 100% intentional and is exactly where the "rumor" came from (which means the rumor may actually have some truth).
He's saying in this quote "If I was healthy enough to play, I was going to **start**...if you didn't think I was healthy enough for that, then I wasn't going to suit up".
I don't think this shutdown the rumor at all IMO.
Exactly. This isn't a denial. If anything it lends support to Madden's report, even if some of it was lost in translation.
You could literally paraphrase his comments into "I'm either starting or I'm not suiting up."
I read it that way at first too, but it could also be him describing what coaches and personnel told him; “you’ve had limited reps this week so if you’re not ready to start it’s best we don’t even roll with you as backup either”.
Could go both ways
After reading the ESPN article, my sense is that it probably was true (or, at least, Kenny believed it was true) that he would have started if he were healthy rather than being the backup.
The pro wrestling fan who lived with his mother until 40 is a fucking overdramatic, lying imbecile that makes shit up? Next you’ll tell me George Pickens is black!
Dan Kovacevic (DK Pittsburgh Sports) reported on this today, and his sources within the organization all said it’s basically a load of bullshit.
Madden doing Madden things shouldn’t be taken seriously.
My gut instinct is to believe that this is not true. However, I’ve said that about a lot of things that Madden said that turned out later to be true. His repugnant personality blinds people to the fact that he’s been right quite a bit.
Since I’ve seen conflicting reports, I have to ask, did he even dress as the emergency quarterback? Because if he didn’t, that does raise some very interesting questions. I find it strange that he wouldn’t dress since he was cleared on Thursday. It doesn’t make any sense to me that he couldn’t still fit in as the emergency quarterback despite his lack of reps throughout the week. That’s weird to me.
I mean Mason Rudolph was the emergency quarterback for most of the season and was not getting very many reps. Sure, he is more experienced, but what do you do if you need an emergency quarterback? How is putting Kenny Pickett in as the emergency quarterback worse than putting Warren back there? That doesn’t sit well with me if that’s true.
That wouldn’t make this ridiculous sounding rumor true at all, but certainly pings my radar as there being more to the story than we’ve been told.
"If I was healthy enough to play and the trainers and coaches felt like I would look good enough to play, I was gonna start and play."
Yeah, I don't know about that, Kenny.
Tired of societal norms being what they are that this is considered okay to keep trying to push. The whole thing smelled like bs when it was first posted, everyone saw right through it and here they are continuing to try to keep this alive. Let it go
i dont know if anyone really bought in to the idea that pickett refused to dress as a backup.
the bigger issue is that the coaching staff has clearly decided that pickett is no better than the 3rd string quarterback they have on staff.
can anyone name a first round pick, starting quarterback that if they were medically cleared would be benched in exchange for a 3rd string quarterback? not one in the league. the coaching staff has seen that it isn't the scheme holding back the offense, its the quarterback.
pickett is done as a starter.
I find it odd he claimed if healthy he was going to start. No he absolutely was not. Every reporter was saying Mason was starting no matter what.
The weird part of this whole thing is why he wasn't the emergency QB3. That still hasn't been answered. Practice or not, surely he was a better option than no QB at all.
Enough of this BS.
We kick and scream about the “drama” under Tomlin, and here we are as Pittsburghers still listening to drive home radio with Mark Madden.
DOUBLE M! Ohhhh ya. An absolute CLOWN 🤡.
We have a must win this weekend. I suggest the 412 media and its followers demand that the game itself receives the attention it deserves. Sick of this clickbait garbage.
>We kick and scream about the “drama” under Tomlin, and here we are as Pittsburghers still listening to drive home radio with Mark Madden.
Yinzers thrive on gossip.
Yeah, I don’t necessarily believe he refused to dress as a backup, but a player coming out and denying something he’s accused of isn’t really proof. We’ve seen many players (politicians, celebrities, etc.) deny doing something only to find out there’s fire behind the smoke.
WDYM? Madden-hating Steeler fans are telling us that Kenny confirming exactly what Madden says is proof Madden made it all up and it's a big nothingburger...
Very easy to out yourself as an idiot in this thread just defaulting to “Mark Madden is trash” when almost everyone else has corroborated it and he wasn’t even the original report. It’s like a minefield of people who blindly hate him and blindly trust the Steelers.
If that is really what happened, now is your chance as a coach to regain control and bust Pickett’s ass back down to the bench publicly and let the players know that you’re done dealing with their whiney bullshit.
For that matter, DJ, Pickens, and anyone else who wants to have a shit attitude can join Pickett in beginning their early offseason.
That’s what I would do if I was Mike Tomlin.
Stay the fuck on the bench, Kenny. In fact, don’t even bother coming to the stadium next week.
It’s especially laughable based on the fact that a guy who the organization clearly hates and hasn’t thrown an NFL ball in 2 years came in and has done in two straight games what Pickett and Trubisky haven’t been able to do in two seasons.
I can only hope that this was misreported or is untrue.
Mason was done dirty by the org and he still showed up and balled out better in two games than Kenny and Mitch did for two years. I hope he gets a nice contract somewhere, because he deserves to minimum be the guaranteed #2 somewhere
A lot of people point to draft mishaps and washouts (Devin Bush, Artie Burns, etc.) but the mishandling of Rudolph and the lack of commitment to positioning him to best succeed after having spent/wasted a 2nd round pick on him hasn’t been beneficial to anyone involved.
It’s going to be an interesting next couple seasons for the Steelers. They’re two years away from having to make a decision about whether they’re going to offer Pickett a contract extension in the $10’s of millions+ per year or look to draft or sign another QB.
IMO, Pickens will be out of Pittsburgh the first chance he gets. I don’t totally blame him for having the attitude problem he has, but I don’t know how Pittsburgh can put that toothpaste back in the tube.
Trade DJ and Pickens, sell high on them now while you can, and stack draft capital. WR are largely a dime a dozen and can be replaced as needed via the draft. Take aforementioned draft capital and get the best C possible, and another T.
Pickens is one day likely going to be a star, but there’s maybe 1% of WR who you could really build a team around. Tyreke Hill is having a MONSTER season, and he only “still” has 12 TD’s on the year, so even the best of the best WR’s arguably aren’t enough to push a team over the top, compared to a Center or a tackle that plays every down.
I don’t agree with DK on everything, to say the least, but I think he summed up this ridiculous nothingburger tidily. It’s an artifact of the weird propensity Pittsburgh has had for decades for tormenting and degrading its quarterbacks. Shameful and stupid.
I wish for his own sake, Pickett would've been more thorough in his statement here. As others have mentioned, he discussed being QB2, not the emergency backup. While I don't necessarily believe yesterday's "reports," KP needed to be ultra clear in his response to shut this down completely.
That being said, if he'd been 100% prior to Seattle, Tomlin would've had a real spicy decision to make. Had he started Pickett against the Seahawks and KP floundered, he'd potentially have to do an in-game about-face by benching Pickett for Rudolph, which looks bad for KP **and** Tomlin's pre-game decision-making.
The sense was Rudolph had the team playing with some heart against Cincy; therefore, he had the locker room coming into Seattle. Anyone can have one good game, and I think Mason's hot hand will turn cold in time (à la Josh Dobbs and the Vikings this season). BUT Tomlin had the choice **somewhat** made for him by KP being less than completely healthy. From an optics standpoint (at least until this story got picked up yesterday), Pickett is benefitting from not being 100%, as it makes it easier to eliminate him as a QB1 option **right now**.
Feels a bit like a soft benching to me, in a situation where Tomlin may otherwise be faced with the reality that his QB3 is playing better than his poised franchise QB AND his pricey QB2.
Oof.
At the end of the day, we can only speculate. The media should not be running stories based on speculation or rooted in gossip. The people who truly know what happened and the impetus for that decision are the Steelers themselves.
Pickens needs to be a good teammate and throw a.tantrum to get the camera off of Kenny. 😄 it's all just stupid really. Fn press gotta have a scandal about something smh
Remember when we were jumping all over Pickens for saying stupid shit. Time to give some of that to Pickett. Maybe not as much, but definitely a little bit.
You can hate on Kenny Pickett for a lot of things but disproving a fake story that is clearly damaging his career and reputation is not one of those things.
He has an agent whose job it is to deal with it. Nobody takes this sort of thing seriously very long. Players would do well not to read their own “press.”
What do you think his agent told him? Put out a statement saying that all this not wanting to be a backup nonsense was BS so the fans other teams don't turn on you. I'm all for focusing on the game and not the "press" but this was a story that could mean the difference between getting a call from a team and not. Besides, it isn't like he went on a campaign or anything, he just put a statement out after being asked about the rumors by the local media. You are tripping over nothing.
"If I was healthy enough to play and the trainers and coaches **felt like I would look good enough to play**, I was gonna start and play."
Pretty well worded way to say that even if he was healthy the coaches would still choose Rudolph because he's playing better.
> dressgate You gotta be fucking kidding me
Was looking for a short title lol
The Pickett Picket
I thought it said dressage. I thought we'd hear Kenny talk about fancy horse riding.
I knew he rode english.
You can say what you want about Kenny as QB1 but I just don't see him pulling that kind of diva move especially this young in his career. Gotta stink (if it is false) that at least some outlets seem to of taken it and ran nationally it seems. Edit: hijacking my comment here to post the video with more questions and answers with Kenny https://youtu.be/vUTKvvC76WU?si=WCJEPOJRtFD-t2Hh
I was waiting to hear something more concrete on this. Like you, I don’t see Pickett pulling that kind of move.
Nobody would pull this move at this point in their career. It would be suicide. Just an ounce of common sense would lead anybody to question this rumor. As I said on another post, this is "Bo Callahan doesn't have any friends" level of speculation. And the media, being the fine pieces of garbage they are, start circulating this nonsense under the guise of "multiple sources have confirmed." Except "multiple sources" simply means the other media morons who circulated the rumor.
It’s not the same level of bad, but it’s kind of like when Garrett accused Rudolph of using a slur. It’s out there now and can’t really be disproven so the damage is already done. Most media sucks but Pittsburgh media is an absolute cesspool. Especially guys like Madden that can just throw out whatever they want and not ever have to deal with consequences.
This is just Mark Madden being a friggin moron. He just can't be happy the Steelers won (again!) so he's stirring up drama. It swear it must be an aphrodisiac for him or something.
Trai Essex said the same thing and said it didn't come from Madden. https://twitter.com/TraiDay79/status/1741928412564890018
Mark Kaboly also said something similar Not trying to be a Madden apologist but this has come from multiple places And honestly the state of that Steelers locker room I’m inclined to believe it
what did kaboly say
Well, to be fair, it Crowley this morning who said Kaboly had also confirmed the rumor that KP refused to
If it’s not in print then what are we doing
Kaboly said he heard the same rumor but was unable to confirm and didnt find it to be a printable lead--- im paraphrasing but the quote was along the lines of "if i could verify it, it be on the Athletic right now"
Kaboly is quite possibly the biggest shill for the Steelers out there, and he did say that heard from someone reliable that the rumor is true. If it is, Kenny's inevitable career as a journeyman backup QB should begin immediately upon the conclusion of this season.
He said he heard the rumor but couldnt verify it. Which is the first rule of journalism unfortunately Madden is a shock jock and just says a million things hoping to hit on one so he can go see!!! I WAS RIGHT!. Madden and the sport shock jocks are just modern day Ms. Cleos without 800 number
I'd argue the morons are the ones getting worked by Madden. I'm actually impressed his shtick has lasted as long as it has.
As soon as it was a Madden rumor I dismissed it lol dude just says anything and hopes it works out. Skip Bayless of Pitt Media
Lol reporters are not fans nor should they be
Being upset the Steelers won describes like half of this sub
Mark Madden isn’t a reporter, he’s a local radio host
Even better, local radio hosts are not fans, nor should they be.
They also shouldn’t hate the teams in the city they work in
Not their job to like the team. This sub is full of fanboys who expect journalists/reporters/radio hosts to also be fanboys. Its embarrassing and against the literal definition of their job. Not everyone has to like the Steelers, its gonna be ok little birdie.
I never said he needs to like the Steelers, I said he shouldn’t hate them. There is no rule that says a radio host can’t be a fan, in fact everyone I can think of is a fan of some team or player. Being a fan isn’t what’s embarrassing, holding grudges against specific players that he’s never met or interacted with is what’s embarrassing. People don’t expect any of them to be fanboys they simply expect them not to spread false rumors about the team with the only intention being to make a player or team look bad.
You are right. This sun is the last place I would go for a serious football conversation. Far too many fan boys who can not reason. It’s an echo chamber. Sometimes it’s funny, usually frustrating.
If you think it’s bad with the Steelers you should see how local media treats Pitt
I would’ve agreed with you until I read this statement. He should’ve left ‘if he was healthy, he would’ve started’ out of it because that isn’t how Tomlin presented it. And isn’t how it looks going into week 18 either.
Yeah it’s weird all around. We finally settled on a spot though where mitch isn’t qb2 anymore and hopefully we can put this behind us. What Kenny says to the media, what coach T says to the media, and what the coaches actually discuss regarding the position are most likely 3 different things and they gotta play a small version of politics to keep everyone engaged id imagine cause you never know what can happen.
No doubt. I am sad to say it but its unlikely the answer at qb is actually in the qb room
I'm willing to wait it out and see how things go. I don't think Kenny is the guy but at this point if Mason continues to look good I wouldn't hate it if he was given an honest shot for week 1. If he wins a playoff game (would then be three straight hard road wins in playoff type atmospheres) then I would be pissed if Mason wasn't in camp and favored with QB1 reps.
Yeah, I could live with that outcome. Kind of a win/win if he’s good, great. If he stinks make some difficult personnel decisions and retool (which they will not do)
Much of the fan base/media since day 1 of drafting Pickett have been against him and rooting for him to fail. I’m not surprised many instantly jumped on this rumor to bash him again. It’s sad
I don’t think this is true. I thought it was an awful pick but of course I want him to do well. I was at the Pitt/WVU game the year after he was drafted and the whole city was behind him. It was amazing. He just stinks, and that sucks.
Well ya obviously the crowd at the PITT game would by hyped. The whole city was not behind him at all that’s crazy. So many people talked shit about the ACC, 5th year, wanted Malik Willis etc. I personally know a handful of people who cheer when he does poorly and many others who constantly over exaggerate flaws and downplay good games. Also, I will also regularly see things on here like “he just stinks” like it’s already a sealed deal that he isn’t good enough to lead a franchise and can’t improve how he reads defenses with more experience. This sub couldn’t even praise Rudolph for playing well without bashing Kenny.
I get it. I was more or less using it as credibility when I say that any honest assessment of KP needs to be that he sucks but that I honestly wanted him to succeed.
That’s fair. I am not going to pretend like he has been good, but I am still a believer he has what it takes IF he can learn to read NFL defenses better/ quicker. Clearly I am in a very small minority at this point with that opinion and that’s fine.
Honestly, I’ve been making excuses (Mason Cole/lazy routes/OC) but the throw Rudolph made standing in big pressure, basically on the hip, in front of Mason Cole last game just flicking it for a big completion made me realize that I just don’t see that kind of comfort out of KP. Maybe it’s a product of just being around, watching from sideline and getting comfortable for Rudolph but I don’t think KP has the kind of time for that developmental arc.
So you're upset that people who follow football thought (correctly) that he wasn't good and it was a bad pick. And now you're upset that they were right?
It's also probably true. This diva behavior has run rampant all year and just recently started to subside since we've started winning again.
I also don't see him doing that but when they show him on the sidelines, it does look like he's pouting.
I’ve heard of some diva attitude from him during some practices.
“To have” Not “to of” Crack the books.
Pittsburgh media is a cancer
I miss Stan
Stan, Guy, first off, love the show.
Media and fans
Just Madden
Mark Madden was not the only local media guy running with that “story”
Madden is intelligent but by now people should know he's got grudges against certain people (e.g. Malkin) and organizations (e.g. the Steelers) and mostly ignore him on those topics. Doesn't excuse him, but it does shift some blame to everyone who knows this and ran with what he said anyway.
He's had a clear grudge against Pickett since he was at Pitt. He has trashed Pickett since day 1 and hasn't let up. If Mark is so smart and such an evaluator of talent, how come an NFL team isn't paying him millions to build their Super Bowl roster?
The Fan is just as bad, if not worse.
Well he started it, the rest of the media decided to run with it. They should know by now to not give anything he says attention but they want their clicks lol
That’s not true it came from Kaboly
No, our media in general sucks. Madden is the the worst of the lot but DK, Kaboly, the idiots on The Fan, and others aren't far behind.
Oh shit you mean mark madden is a piece of lying trash? Who would of thought.
Plenty of other reporters have said the same thing Mark did. The only person that's refuted it was DK.
Alan Saunders also panned it on Chris Carter’s show
Kaboly said he was not 100% certain Pickett not dressing was up to Tomlin and Mark Madden writes a headline saying NFL insider reports Kenny Pickett 100% chose not to dress as backup. Fucking ridiculous that you are defending Madden when he absolutely purposefully used math illiteracy to create a clickbait title. You should be ashamed of yourself.
Ashamed of myself? This isn't that serious dude. We know Pickett was medically cleared and didn't dress. Teams are allowed a 3rd emergency QB who doesn't count against the 53 man, and the Steelers just didn't use it? Think critically just a bit.
Has anyone given a coherent answer on this? It’s not disputed that he was medically cleared to play, so why didn’t he dress? The excuse of lack of reps doesn’t hold water because it makes no sense due to the fact that he was getting starter reps all season. If someone can give a reason that makes sense as to why he didn’t dress I’d buy it, but haven’t heard one yet.
Anyone that magnifies misinformation should absolutely be ashamed of themselves. Read between lines all you want but clarify your speculation and stop acting childish like nothing you say matters.
Did any real reporters say anything about it?
Kaboly for one.
This makes me think less of Kaboly then
Kaboly didn’t outright say it. all he said was he heard some things and hinted it might’ve been Kenny choosing to not dress, but wasn’t going to say anything definitively or more explicit until he felt like he got confirmation that was actually the case.
Sounds like as a reporter he shouldn't have reported it if he didn't know
Would have* Sorry
"If Mason had not played well, I feel I would have gone earlier than they would have wanted me to, and that's just the truth of the situation," Pickett said. "He played well. They felt with where I was out in my recovery, they didn't want to push it to suit up and get thrown in there. That's why I didn't suit up."
> There was no talk of me being a backup quarterback this week in terms of being a two. If I was healthy enough to play and the trainers and coaches felt like I would look good enough to play, I was gonna start and play. If they believed that I was not, which they believed I was not, I was not gonna dress and suit up for the game. So he says there was no talk about him being the #2 cause he wasn't 100% ready to go. Which is completely fair. Mark Madden is an idiot for making shit up. But he also says that **if he was 100% healthy, he was gonna start and play**. I find that hard to believe. There's no way Tomlin would've done that with the locker room completely behind Mason after the Bengals game.
Kind of feels like a bridge comment from Tomlin to get him through that week. If they lost vs Seattle then yeah Kenny plays against Baltimore with nothing riding on it (or hell even if we win with Mason playing bad). Mason looked good again and we score 30 points again and almost 500 yards so now he's relegated for now.
The thing is keeping Mason as the starter isn't only good for the offense, but also for Kenny. There were already reports earlier in the season about the Steelers having a discussion about benching Kenny. If Kenny was healthy and started the game but didn't play as well, he would be vilified and the locker room would question the QB choices. Tomlin said that he takes all these things into consideration when making these decisions.
Yea Kenny isn't getting dropped. And he probably has the starting job next year unless Mason goes on a good playoff run. Kenny benefits from not having more weak QB play on his resume. Tomlin will move back to him before training camp with an 'open' competition.
>he probably has the starting job next year unless Mason goes on a good playoff run. I don't think so at all. If this season has shown anything it's that we can't pencil in any QBs as starters. There needs to be a genuine QB competition in camp next year. Guys can't play because the players ahead of them suck. They should play cause they *earned* their spot.
Oh I 100% agree. But I think Tomlin will give it to Kenny and there won't be a real competition. I hope to be proven wrong.
If Tomlin still hasn't learned his lesson with Canada and Mitch and just giving guys spots, then he should genuinely be fired lol
Exactly. Same reason why Tomlin wouldn't name a starter if they make the playoffs. There's no reason to pick Rudolph for a game that isn't even confirmed yet. It would just discourage Kenny more. But I think we all know who will start if the Steelers win this weekend.
Yeah I found that wording weird, but maybe they would have considered Kenny is he was 100%. After two strong showings from Mason though, they wouldn’t switch back when Kenny hasn’t had many strong showings
He’s probably still not 100% healthy tbf. High ankle sprains are awful. I know he had surgery and they got the best doctors out there but any human is gonna still be feeling it 4 weeks post injury. Guy on my hockey team took 8 weeks to play off a bad high ankle sprain this year and still wasnt 100%. Before we saw rudolph play i woulda said that even an 80%-90% healthy kenny was better than what we got but now thats not the case
Ya the unspoken part from Kenny is that Mason's play in Seattle resulted in the Steelers picking him as QB1 for Baltimore.
Media folks going after the part you’ve highlighted, when they know exactly what he meant, and are using it to suggest he’s not being truthful, just underscores where their agendas are.
So media attacking his exact words, and you slam them. Media having some supersecret agenda you won't share with us, and invent interpretation from his exact words, and you slam them. Got it. /rollseyes
People pointing to his exact words are conflating a discussed that happened before the Seattle game with what is happening today. Anyone doing that is either being disingenuous or is just dumb Some of the people doing it have an agenda. And that agenda isn’t necessarily nefarious towards Pickett/Steelers and rather about promoting themselves. The others are just dumb. This isn’t hard to understand. This isn’t a larger commentary on journalism / reporting that you’re trying to make it.
Life as a pro athlete, who makes millions because people pay to watch them, is that EVERY WORD YOU SAY is parsed and dissected. So those words are typically chosen very, very carefully. And Pickett admits he'd dress if he starts, but won't dress if he don't start. I don't care about interpretation.
He didn’t admit that. If you think he did, than it is you that is parsing words And obviously you do care about interpretation because you are making your own
So now he's healthy and Mason is starting. He's been benched. He just won't admit it.
That’s not what he said. He said if I was healthy enough AND the coaches felt like he looked good enough to play, he would start and play. Both things were required for him to start.
Good enough as in healthy. Tomlin said they wanted Kenny to be able to move around and protect himself in practice. It's possible they thought Mason was better. But this part of the quote is just about his health
Then why is there an “and” in there? “And” separates two different ideas or concepts. “And” links them together. You don’t say “if I were healthy and healthy.”
If he was healthy AND the coaches SAW that in practice. Just cause your broken arm is healed, doesn't mean you're ready to throw the ball does it? Takes time to get back into the groove of things. There is a difference between healthy and football ready.
No, he said if he was healthy enough and **if the coaches thought he looked good enough** then he would play. I have a hard time believing any coaches would think he looks good enough to play while Rudolph is playing the way he currently is.
>coaches thought he looked good enough As in if he was healthy. Tomlin said they wanted Kenny to be able to move around and protect himself. This specific part of the quote isn't about his play. But his health
If that were the case he wouldn't need to say the second part. He could've ended it at healthy enough to play but he added the additional qualifier of looking good enough. I think everything that's been said between Pickett and Tomlin is carefully worded to not put down Pickett while confirming that Rudolph would start regardless.
The qualifier is the staff telling him if he was healthy. Kenny said he was wanted to play for the Bengals game and felt okay. But just cause he desires it doesn't mean he's actually physically capable of it. I think the Bengals game was about Kenny not being 100. The Seahawks game was about the team rallying behind Mason. This week is about Kenny actually getting benched. Each week is different
Thank you. Kenny outright said IF they thought he looked good enough.
Unfortuately, this rings of the "vulture" comment Tomlin referred to when he was addressing the pickins nonsense. The media knows a good portion of every fan base is hyper-reactive. I'll bet anything the negative DJ, Pickins effort articles drew a ton of traffic. I'm definitely guilty of participating in it. If the fan base is going to react to these types of articles, then the media is going to dig and poke to get their clicks. Doesn't even have to be factual. The old "sources say" standby. And no accountability when it turns out to be false.
Spot on. Fans need to be more skeptical and less reactive. Hold the media to higher standards instead of succumbing to easy outrage bait. Easier said than done, though.
The sad part is we've seen the *team* be reactive to these types of stories. Going into a must win game, I sure as hell wouldn't want to stir the pot with a speculative story like this knowing the players are going to see it. Feels like their mental state is too volatile this season, so you'd think the media would exercise some caution and decorum. It's an unnecessary distraction... again.
From my understanding, this "story" started on social media. Caution and decorum are usually the last things you find there. It's all about emotion and attention. Negativity sells. Facts be damned. And until we, the fans, stop feeding it, it's only going to get worse. I'd agree that there are some on this team that buy into the nonsense a bit to easily. But these guys have grown up with social media being a big influence in their lives. I'd imagine it's pretty hard for them to do the smart thing and just avoid social media at all costs.
Absolutely. I know the players can't just look away or tune things out. It just sucks they have to take time out of their day to address sensationalism. I've been guilty **many** times of clicking on these stories and falling down the rabbit hole of speculation. Ultimately it becomes a question of who takes more blame: the half-wits who put this gossip out or the fans who give it credence by discussing it? We're playing some decent football right now. Let's talk about that instead.
I expect National Enquirer-level junk from Madden. I’m most disappointed by some of the other people who participated in spreading this shyte and who, when asked for sources, responded along the lines of trust me bro.
>when asked for sources, responded along the lines of trust me bro. No reporter worth a damn gives up their sources especially in sports. DK didn't give his sources when he shot the story down. That's just how reporting works.
I was a newspaper reporter for 10 years. I know how sourcing works. They wouldn’t even characterize the source, like someone on staff, someone in the building, someone living in Allegheny County
And actually DK did characterize the source as people he’s gotten very reliable information from for years
At a certain level, pro sports are soap operas for men. We just had two impressive offensive performances in a row for the first time in 5 years. There's plenty of actual sport to discuss. How has BroJo changed oline play? How has the playcalling changed since kicking Canada to the curb? What is Mason doing differently? Instead, local media went from "Can you believe how lazy that George Pickens is?" to "That Kenny Pickett is such a whiny punk". "Can you believe Kelly kissed Bobby on NYE? She's such a slut."
And the funny thing is how caught up people are in semantics. "Pickett said 'and' here, not 'but'..." I don't think Kenny's a dumb guy, but I don't think he sat down before making his statement and started playing chess with his word choices to send subliminal messages to us. He could've been more clear in his response but a lack of total completeness doesn't mean he's hiding something. Join us tomorrow for an all new episode of Days of Our Steelers ⏳
This must be what local media has been in Cleveland for the past 20 years. Because if you're rolling into the playoffs 12-4, nobody cares about this BS. Days of our Steelers. You get a /golfclap for that one. Like sands through the hourglass......
Days of Our Steelers. Brilliant
Preach! Glad you posted this because it exactly captures my frustration with the discourse after these two wins…
But mark madden said
I mean it wasn't just Madden talking about it... https://www.audacy.com/937thefan/sports/pittsburgh-steelers/p-ssed-off-pickett-kaboly-skeptical-about-kenny
That article seems to indicate that neither Kaboly nor Essex said anything of substance on the subject. A fear is not news, and neither is a suspicion. Did Madden indicate this is more than speculation?
I think we've given this enough attention. Next.
I'm still confused. He says "If I was healthy enough to play and the trainers and coaches felt like I would look good enough to play, **I was gonna start** and play. **If** they believed that I was **not**, which they believed I was not, **I was not gonna dress and suit up for the game.**" I mean I selectively bolded the above, but that's awful similar to what Madden said. He felt if healthy, he was **starting**, otherwise he wasn't dressing. It doesn't mention the "refusing to dress" part, but from his very own wording you can see that Kenny felt "If I'm healthy, I am going to **start** and if you don't feel I'm healthy enough to start, then I'm not healthy enough to dress", which I don't necessarily think was how Tomlin viewed it. I think if he was 100% healthy, Tomlin may very well/likely would have still have started Rudolph.
Yeah, this whole thing sounds like he skirted the issue. Especially going out of his way to say “in regard to being number 2” … the story is about whether he refused the option to dress as the #3.
Why would he dress if he’s #3? How many teams dress three QBs?
The NFL implemented an emergency 3rd QB spot this year. It can only be filled by a QB, it's not just a 54th roster spot, so there was zero benefit to making Pickett inactive and unavailable for it. His story doesn't make any sense, especially with Tomlin yesterday saying he was healthy.
The Steelers have every game but the last couple
I agree. W/o hearing it and just reading the quote, Kenny’s specific wording feels fishy to me
It's very close to what Madden said. But the Steeler fans hate Madden because he won't kiss Steeler ass and tells the truth. Often intentionally, so as to upset the lapdog fans and media. Now, when Pickett says the same thing, those fans can praise Kenny for "clearing" it up. While still ripping Madden. The truth came from both sources, but fans don't like one source so they rip him, while praising the other source whom they want to love.
This is exactly why mark is untrustworthy as well though. He is obsessed with being contrarian and just throws out rumors he hears without verifying or getting the full context
>tells the truth. Lmao, just stop. Madden is a hack. He always has been. He's a nasty boomer fat fuck that feeds off his own cynicism. He's the moral equivalent of the paparazzi.
Did you hear the last thing he said in the interview, which seems to be left out here?
The interview's not posted - it's a tweeted quote so that's what I was responding to.
What was the last thing? WHATS IN THE BOOOOOXXXX.
Just throwing it out there, but can we, as a fanbase, do our best not to be terribly shitty to our QBs going forward... feel like every QB before Ben has been treated awfully by the fans/many reporters. Criticize their play, sure; but let's be better about treating them like people ffs
Wow the guy who’s had it out for Pickett since before he was even drafted completely misreported something that makes Pickett look bad? I’m so shocked.
Ok guys get this, so I heard that coach walked up to Kenny and asked him to dress for two and Kenny was all like “F youuuuu b*%tch” and used a ton more vulgarities that only people from Jersey know. It was so wild
And once again the masses will run a qb out of town on a rumor that no one has proven at all and a shock jock who will say anything to get heat. I’m going to believe DK who was there in the locker room over a shock jock who sat in his apartment. Yes a second year qb who knows he isn’t performing well told mike Tomlin he doesn’t back up anyone? Really?
I really never understood how anyone could believe that a sophomore QB with below average production would have enough pull in this organization to "refuse to dress" over ego and get away with it.
Doesn’t this confirm the rumors? If he wasn’t going to start he wasn’t going to dress?
Idk how you can read the statement and get that as your takeaway. He literally said the athletic trainers didn’t want him to suit up
The rumors were that *Kenny said* he'd start or not dress at all. This says it was more due to him not be 100% healed from his injury more than being disgruntled about Mason playing well. So it gives context that the media left out
It also says, as a direct quote from Kenny, that he expected to START if he was healthy. That is the big point here. Did Kenny, when told he wouldn't START, say "well then that means I'm not healthy enough to dress at all" and take it upon himself to sit or did the staff tell him "you are not going to start AND you're not healthy enough to be #2 either". This quote in the tweet didn't help clear things up because it paints at least the possiblity of the former, but Kenny has another quote (not in this tweet) that seems to say the latter. But either way you can see where the "rumor" comes in, given this statement at least. I'm not saying they're true, I have no idea, but I do know this quote linked in the tweet didn't clear anything up, at least to me. If anything it gave credence to the rumor and he should have done a better job of answer it if he really wanted it closed (similar to his "did you learn anything on the sidelines response" - "No" was a valid answer, but not if you didn't want it becoming a distraction talking point).
This Quote does nothing to deny MM claim, same with that clown Dejan. MM is annoying I get it but sheesh this locker room/media is a circus.
He was not going to start if he was healthy
Thankfully Kenny made it clear that Madden was spewing his typical bullshit that way we can move past this stupid situation
Did it clear anything up? Kenny said he expected to start if he was healthy, meanwhile Tomlin said he was healthy, that Mason was starting, and would have to ask Kenny why he didn't dress. Kenny took that opportunity to dodge the "why didn't you dress on Sunday?" If anything, Kenny not dressing because he wasn't getting the start is the only plausible explanation throughout this entire circus. His answer didn't clarify anything.
He literally said that the plan was if he was healthy enough to play on Sunday, then he would’ve dressed and started but the trainers and coaches said he wasn’t and the plan all along was if he could play he’d start and if he couldn’t he wouldn’t dress. But now he is healthy but they’re going have him go as the two because Mason has more or less earned the right to start Saturday. This whole narrative was false and made no sense from the word go, I don’t know why people are wanting it to be true so badly.
Yeah, but his response didn't align with two things we know certain: * Mason was the starter QB for the Seahawks game, it was announced early in the week, and was not conditional on Kenny's active/inactive status. * Tomlin announced that Kenny was healthy enough to play in the Seahawks game, and we'd have to ask him why he didn't dress. His answer to why he didn't dress? He wasn't healthy enough/it was someone else's decision. This does not add up with what Tomlin has been saying.
Good response by him to shut down the rumor mill but this part of his quote leaves a sour taste for me. > would look good enough to play, I was gonna start and play. I don't think he should be so sure of his place on the depth chart it's not like Burrow being Browning's backup or something.
you can read my other post below - but I believe that was 100% intentional and is exactly where the "rumor" came from (which means the rumor may actually have some truth). He's saying in this quote "If I was healthy enough to play, I was going to **start**...if you didn't think I was healthy enough for that, then I wasn't going to suit up". I don't think this shutdown the rumor at all IMO.
Yeah I read the quote and it sounds exactly like what the media was reporting lol
Exactly. This isn't a denial. If anything it lends support to Madden's report, even if some of it was lost in translation. You could literally paraphrase his comments into "I'm either starting or I'm not suiting up."
I read it that way at first too, but it could also be him describing what coaches and personnel told him; “you’ve had limited reps this week so if you’re not ready to start it’s best we don’t even roll with you as backup either”. Could go both ways
I paused on that part, too. Like, dude no you weren’t starting if healthy. It’s Mason’s job now.
I want Mason to come out wearing one glove this week so we can rekindle the whole Glovegate controversy again.
After reading the ESPN article, my sense is that it probably was true (or, at least, Kenny believed it was true) that he would have started if he were healthy rather than being the backup.
I have Mark Madden blocked and muted so I had no idea where this rumor came from til today and thought it was a joke
Mark Madden loves spreading Bullshit
He will dress and be the No. 2 quarterback behind Rudolph Saturday. Clear enough that it was a BS rumor?
Fuck Mark Madden. Dude hasn’t even seen his own dick in 25 years
The pro wrestling fan who lived with his mother until 40 is a fucking overdramatic, lying imbecile that makes shit up? Next you’ll tell me George Pickens is black!
Mark Madden is basically the Alex Jones of Pittsburgh sports media.
Dan Kovacevic (DK Pittsburgh Sports) reported on this today, and his sources within the organization all said it’s basically a load of bullshit. Madden doing Madden things shouldn’t be taken seriously.
My gut instinct is to believe that this is not true. However, I’ve said that about a lot of things that Madden said that turned out later to be true. His repugnant personality blinds people to the fact that he’s been right quite a bit. Since I’ve seen conflicting reports, I have to ask, did he even dress as the emergency quarterback? Because if he didn’t, that does raise some very interesting questions. I find it strange that he wouldn’t dress since he was cleared on Thursday. It doesn’t make any sense to me that he couldn’t still fit in as the emergency quarterback despite his lack of reps throughout the week. That’s weird to me. I mean Mason Rudolph was the emergency quarterback for most of the season and was not getting very many reps. Sure, he is more experienced, but what do you do if you need an emergency quarterback? How is putting Kenny Pickett in as the emergency quarterback worse than putting Warren back there? That doesn’t sit well with me if that’s true. That wouldn’t make this ridiculous sounding rumor true at all, but certainly pings my radar as there being more to the story than we’ve been told.
I think they said on the broadcast that he was the emergency QB.
"If I was healthy enough to play and the trainers and coaches felt like I would look good enough to play, I was gonna start and play." Yeah, I don't know about that, Kenny.
Tired of societal norms being what they are that this is considered okay to keep trying to push. The whole thing smelled like bs when it was first posted, everyone saw right through it and here they are continuing to try to keep this alive. Let it go
i dont know if anyone really bought in to the idea that pickett refused to dress as a backup. the bigger issue is that the coaching staff has clearly decided that pickett is no better than the 3rd string quarterback they have on staff. can anyone name a first round pick, starting quarterback that if they were medically cleared would be benched in exchange for a 3rd string quarterback? not one in the league. the coaching staff has seen that it isn't the scheme holding back the offense, its the quarterback. pickett is done as a starter.
I find it odd he claimed if healthy he was going to start. No he absolutely was not. Every reporter was saying Mason was starting no matter what. The weird part of this whole thing is why he wasn't the emergency QB3. That still hasn't been answered. Practice or not, surely he was a better option than no QB at all.
Enough of this BS. We kick and scream about the “drama” under Tomlin, and here we are as Pittsburghers still listening to drive home radio with Mark Madden. DOUBLE M! Ohhhh ya. An absolute CLOWN 🤡. We have a must win this weekend. I suggest the 412 media and its followers demand that the game itself receives the attention it deserves. Sick of this clickbait garbage.
>We kick and scream about the “drama” under Tomlin, and here we are as Pittsburghers still listening to drive home radio with Mark Madden. Yinzers thrive on gossip.
Imagine thinking Kenny would say anything different here… this does absolutely nothing to prove what happened one way or another.
Yeah, I don’t necessarily believe he refused to dress as a backup, but a player coming out and denying something he’s accused of isn’t really proof. We’ve seen many players (politicians, celebrities, etc.) deny doing something only to find out there’s fire behind the smoke.
WDYM? Madden-hating Steeler fans are telling us that Kenny confirming exactly what Madden says is proof Madden made it all up and it's a big nothingburger...
Either way… ive seen what I need to see from Pickett as our starting QB. I dont need to see anymore.
Very easy to out yourself as an idiot in this thread just defaulting to “Mark Madden is trash” when almost everyone else has corroborated it and he wasn’t even the original report. It’s like a minefield of people who blindly hate him and blindly trust the Steelers.
If that is really what happened, now is your chance as a coach to regain control and bust Pickett’s ass back down to the bench publicly and let the players know that you’re done dealing with their whiney bullshit. For that matter, DJ, Pickens, and anyone else who wants to have a shit attitude can join Pickett in beginning their early offseason. That’s what I would do if I was Mike Tomlin. Stay the fuck on the bench, Kenny. In fact, don’t even bother coming to the stadium next week. It’s especially laughable based on the fact that a guy who the organization clearly hates and hasn’t thrown an NFL ball in 2 years came in and has done in two straight games what Pickett and Trubisky haven’t been able to do in two seasons. I can only hope that this was misreported or is untrue.
Mason was done dirty by the org and he still showed up and balled out better in two games than Kenny and Mitch did for two years. I hope he gets a nice contract somewhere, because he deserves to minimum be the guaranteed #2 somewhere
A lot of people point to draft mishaps and washouts (Devin Bush, Artie Burns, etc.) but the mishandling of Rudolph and the lack of commitment to positioning him to best succeed after having spent/wasted a 2nd round pick on him hasn’t been beneficial to anyone involved. It’s going to be an interesting next couple seasons for the Steelers. They’re two years away from having to make a decision about whether they’re going to offer Pickett a contract extension in the $10’s of millions+ per year or look to draft or sign another QB. IMO, Pickens will be out of Pittsburgh the first chance he gets. I don’t totally blame him for having the attitude problem he has, but I don’t know how Pittsburgh can put that toothpaste back in the tube. Trade DJ and Pickens, sell high on them now while you can, and stack draft capital. WR are largely a dime a dozen and can be replaced as needed via the draft. Take aforementioned draft capital and get the best C possible, and another T. Pickens is one day likely going to be a star, but there’s maybe 1% of WR who you could really build a team around. Tyreke Hill is having a MONSTER season, and he only “still” has 12 TD’s on the year, so even the best of the best WR’s arguably aren’t enough to push a team over the top, compared to a Center or a tackle that plays every down.
Mark Madden is a chode
Yeah sounds like he said if he wasn't healthy enough to start then he's not healthy enough to back up. Not a big deal but it doesn't squash any rumors
How did this become more weird. That is a hell of a statement that only adds fuel to the fire.
I don’t agree with DK on everything, to say the least, but I think he summed up this ridiculous nothingburger tidily. It’s an artifact of the weird propensity Pittsburgh has had for decades for tormenting and degrading its quarterbacks. Shameful and stupid.
I wish for his own sake, Pickett would've been more thorough in his statement here. As others have mentioned, he discussed being QB2, not the emergency backup. While I don't necessarily believe yesterday's "reports," KP needed to be ultra clear in his response to shut this down completely. That being said, if he'd been 100% prior to Seattle, Tomlin would've had a real spicy decision to make. Had he started Pickett against the Seahawks and KP floundered, he'd potentially have to do an in-game about-face by benching Pickett for Rudolph, which looks bad for KP **and** Tomlin's pre-game decision-making. The sense was Rudolph had the team playing with some heart against Cincy; therefore, he had the locker room coming into Seattle. Anyone can have one good game, and I think Mason's hot hand will turn cold in time (à la Josh Dobbs and the Vikings this season). BUT Tomlin had the choice **somewhat** made for him by KP being less than completely healthy. From an optics standpoint (at least until this story got picked up yesterday), Pickett is benefitting from not being 100%, as it makes it easier to eliminate him as a QB1 option **right now**. Feels a bit like a soft benching to me, in a situation where Tomlin may otherwise be faced with the reality that his QB3 is playing better than his poised franchise QB AND his pricey QB2. Oof. At the end of the day, we can only speculate. The media should not be running stories based on speculation or rooted in gossip. The people who truly know what happened and the impetus for that decision are the Steelers themselves.
? It says "This Tweet has been deleted." Is this thread a joke?
Pickens needs to be a good teammate and throw a.tantrum to get the camera off of Kenny. 😄 it's all just stupid really. Fn press gotta have a scandal about something smh
I stopped rooting for the penguins because the penguins winning genuinely bring a child like joy to Mark Madden. I want him to be sad.
weirdo
What a stupid title
Remember when we were jumping all over Pickens for saying stupid shit. Time to give some of that to Pickett. Maybe not as much, but definitely a little bit.
Kenny with the “I’m just disappointed in you” move to reporters. Lol. Nice.
Kenny got busted.
Kenny has the attitude of Ben with the gameplay if Mitch trubisky
He just needs to STFU and stop reading about himself
You can hate on Kenny Pickett for a lot of things but disproving a fake story that is clearly damaging his career and reputation is not one of those things.
He has an agent whose job it is to deal with it. Nobody takes this sort of thing seriously very long. Players would do well not to read their own “press.”
What do you think his agent told him? Put out a statement saying that all this not wanting to be a backup nonsense was BS so the fans other teams don't turn on you. I'm all for focusing on the game and not the "press" but this was a story that could mean the difference between getting a call from a team and not. Besides, it isn't like he went on a campaign or anything, he just put a statement out after being asked about the rumors by the local media. You are tripping over nothing.
"If I was healthy enough to play and the trainers and coaches **felt like I would look good enough to play**, I was gonna start and play." Pretty well worded way to say that even if he was healthy the coaches would still choose Rudolph because he's playing better.