The New York Jets made headlines when news broke that they were sitting quarterback Zach Wilson for Sunday’s upcoming game against the Miami Dolphins.

In fact, they went one step further than simply benching him. With Tim Boyle taking over the starter’s job and veteran Trevor Siemian serving as backup, Wilson has plummeted to QB3 on the depth chart.

A former first round pick by the Jets in 2021 (second overall), Wilson has struggled mightily at the helm for the Jets this year.

Of course, he was not expected to be in this position to start the year. After being benched late last season in favor of Mike White, the Jets continued to show their hesitancy to trust Zach Wilson when they acquired Aaron Rodgers from the Green Bay Packers.

Rodgers would go down with a season-ending (or so we think) injury just four plays into the season, forcing the Jets to trot Wilson back out onto the field for the foreseeable future.

However, after falling to 4-6 on the year, head coach Robert Saleh has finally made the decision to make a change in a last ditch effort to save the season.

When asked about Wilson’s future, Saleh said that the organization would “deal with it in the offseason.”

The Jets, as a team, came into this year with sky high hopes and expectations. A star-studded defense that was supposed to be one of the top units in the league. And pair that with an offense that finally looks like it’s all coming together, with great pieces at the running back and wide receiver positions.

The Jets has not only playoff aspirations, but deep playoff run dreams.

Does that story sound familiar?

Over in Pittsburgh, that same offseason was playing out, and while the situation at quarterback was different before the season started, it only took 75 seconds into New York’s season for these two teams to become mirror images of each other.

The Jets’ defense, in the close games, has been keeping the team in it. They serve up chance after chance for New York’s offense to get something, anything going on the field. But, in the vast majority of cases, it’s to no avail.

Similarly a better record (6-4), the Steelers have been winning games largely in spite of Kenny Pickett, not because of him. The fourth quarter drives are great, but they are only in a position to need those drives because of offensive ineptitude.

Pickett’s problems have been somewhat concealable as long as the team kept winning games, but after a loss to the Browns in Cleveland against a rookie fifth round pick at QB, the floodgates have opened.

The defense was good in Pittsburgh’s loss to Cleveland. They held the Browns to 13 points, and while yes, their last stand against the Browns was unimpressive, they still played well enough to get the win.

But that’s not where the similarities stop. Zach Wilson and Kenny Pickett are very similar quarterbacks right now.

Actually, Wilson might be better.

Wilson is ahead of Pickett in passing yards (by 222 more), overall completions (20 more), total first downs (10 more), yards per attempt (by 0.2 more), and yards per catch (0.1 more).

Pickett and Wilson are tied for touchdowns, with 6 a piece.

Despite that, the Jets decided the production they were getting out of their recent first round pick was not good enough.

Now, in fairness to Pickett, he does beat Wilson in several categories, including completion percentage (1.3% more), QBR (5.0 more), and he has less 3 less interceptions than Wilson on the year.

But the differences between these quarterbacks are minuscule at best, and one of them just got replaced.

For the Steelers, who have given no indications yet that they are moving away from Pickett, it’s a concerning sign for their fans. There is a legitimate case to be made that Wilson is a better quarterback than Pickett, and yet the former has been demoted while the latter is going unscathed by the team.

Both quarterbacks have had their outside factors. For Wilson, his offensive line has routinely gotten him killed. Wilson has been sacked 38 times this season, almost double Picket’s number, and hasn’t always gotten the help of his receivers. In addition to that, his offensive coordinator, Nathaniel Hackett, is under fire as New York flounders in the standings.

But over in Pittsburgh, the story is much the same. Although Pickett has a better offensive line, Pickett has also suffered from drops by receivers and an incompetent offensive coordinator.

But the great quarterbacks rise above those challenges anyways. Even the good ones, or the ones deserving of a second look, hold up their end of the bargain, and neither one of them have.

Pickett in particular has made blatantly terrible throws, including passes 20 yards clear of any receiver in the area, under thrown balls, and wobbly swing passes.

Wilson has not been good consistently at passing the ball either, but his weekly numbers still blow Kenny Pickett’s out of the water.

In three of the last four weeks, Wilson has thrown for more yards than Pickett. In Week 8, Wilson threw 240 yards. Pickett had 73 through the first half against Jacksonville. He was injured and did not play the second half, but even if you would have taken what he would have been on pace for, it still would have been 94 yards short.

In Week 9, Wilson threw for 263 yards, Pickett had 160. A 103 yard difference.

In Week 10, Wilson once again put up 263 yards, while Pickett plummeted to 126. That’s a 137 yard difference.

Pickett finally got the best of Wilson last week, but before you think too much of that, Pickett had 106 yards to Wilson’s 81, and Wilson was benched late in the game. It’s a difference of 25 yards, and Wilson’s replacement, Tim Boyle, had 33 passing yards. If Wilson stays in the game, it’s a safe bet that Zach still beats Kenny.

The difference is in how these organizations went about accountability. The Jets decided to make Wilson the scapegoat, forcing him out of the lineup in the hopes that another QB can revive the season.

Meanwhile, Pittsburgh has made someone else the scapegoat so far. Embattled OC Matt Canada, who has had a historically bad run as the team’s play caller since 2021, was just fired by the Steelers.

Pittsburgh differs in still believing that Pickett can be their guy right now, or at the very least, wanting to use these remaining games to find out if he is their guy. With Matt Canada gone, however, there is no more shield for Kenny. He has these next 7 games to prove that Canada was the curse to his career.

Despite that, you still have to look at his current production and seriously question if he is helping the team.

While demoting Pickett all the way to QB3 might be a bit harsh, the Steelers would be foolish to not at least consider looking to someone else to take over, even if it is just for a few weeks.

Several players on Pittsburgh’s offense are noticeably frustrated with how things are going. They don’t even need to come out and say it; their body language on the field and their sideline antics do the talking for them.

As a coaching staff, you owe it to your stars and your team to give the team the best chance to win week in and week out. Is that best chance really Kenny Pickett right now?

The same question was be asked in New York, and while the answer to that question remains to be seen, you have to credit the Jets for at least wanting to find out.

New York actually has more to lose in the football politics world by doing this move. Wilson was a former second overall pick by the Jets in 2021, and the longer he struggles to establish his presence in the NFL, the more the calls grow that he is a bust.

Not only that, but the Jets had chances to change their QB room behind the incoming Aaron Rodgers, and ultimately decided not to. Robert Saleh said it was an organizational decision to keep Wilson around behind Rodgers, and now that move looks worse and worse.

The Steelers have politics at play as well, no question. Kenny Pickett was the 20th overall in 2022, and he has the added connection of being a Pitt graduate on his résumé.

The Steelers might still believe that Pickett is their guy, but if Pickett was some late round draft choice, would he still have as long of a leash?

Mason Rudolph, a quarterback selected in the third round of the draft by the Steelers in 2018, did not get nearly as many chances, despite also routinely putting up better numbers than Pickett.

Having better stats than Pickett is not necessarily a flex at this current juncture, but when Rudolph was forced to step in due to injury in 2019, he outperformed what Pickett is doing here in 2023.

Rudolph played 10 games for the Steelers in 2019, the same amount that Pickett has in 2023. Take a look at their stat lines:

2019 Rudolph:

• 5-3 record
• 1,765 passing yards
• 62.2% completion percentage
• 13 touchdowns (4.6%)
• 9 interceptions (3.2%)
• 6.2 yards per attempt
• 10.0 yards per catch
• Sacked 15 times

2023 Pickett:

• 6-4 record
• 1,722 passing yards
• 60.5% completion percentage
• 6 touchdowns (2.1%)
• 4 interceptions (1.4%)
• 6.1 yards per attempt
• 10.1 yards per catch
• Sacked 21 times

Those stat lines are very similar, and yet, the Steelers and head coach Mike Tomlin back in 2019 decided that what they were getting from Rudolph was not good enough. So they turned to undrafted free agent Duck Hodges.

The mention of Rudolph also brings up another very interesting point: the Steelers have benched QBs before.

It’s not unheard of for Pittsburgh to make a change at the position. As an organization, they very rarely make change, and especially in the season. But at the quarterback spot, they have before.

Rudolph was a third round pick by Pittsburgh, but they constantly bragged that they had a first round grade on him. So despite his actual draft status, he was hailed as a steal by this organization, and yet, they had no fear benching him for somebody else.

An even more recent example is current backup QB Mitch Trubisky. Signing with the team as a free agent ahead of the 2022 season, Trubisky played in 3.5 games for the team, before Tomlin benched him at halftime in Week 4, ironically against the New York Jets.

A QB benching is how Pickett got the job in the first place, now, it should be how he has time to reflect.

It’s hard to say exactly how long Pickett should be on the bench, if the Steelers were to decide to actually do it. Maybe just a game? Maybe the whole year? It’s a tough question, and one that remains incomplete without knowing how well his replacement performs.

People will talk about Pickett’s confidence being shattered if he gets benched, but have you seen him on the field recently? Kenny Pickett is not a confident man right now. His body language, facial expressions, and performance on the football field are all dead giveaways.

Does benching him help his confidence? No, but we have to be honest with ourselves: he does not have much confidence to begin with.

Benching him, even temporarily, would however allow him to settle down, reset his mind, and work to get back to who the Steelers envision he can be. The game just looks like it’s going too fast for him right now.

They would never do it right away, but if he continued with similar production under a new coordinator and, in theory, somewhat improved play-calling, you seriously have to consider moving to someone else.

Taking until the end of the season may be too long for the Steelers. If Pickett goes multiple games without enhanced production, it may be time to do what the Jets did.

(Featured photo credits from left to right: Bryan M. Bennett/Getty Images, Cooper Neill/Getty Images, Phekan M. Ebenhack/AP)