Kenny Pickett has gotten rave reviews for the way he changed the protection at the line of scrimmage Sunday before he threw a 41-yard touchdown pass to George Pickens that provided the go-ahead points in the Pittsburgh Steelers’ 17-10 victory against the Baltimore Ravens.

It wasn’t the first time in the game Pickett made an adjustment coming out of the huddle that worked in the Steelers’ favor.

Heck, it wasn’t the first time it happened on that drive, quarterbacks coach Mike Sullivan noted Wednesday.

Sullivan pointed to Pickett’s decision-making on the third play of the drive. The Steelers were facing a third-and-9 at their 21 when Pickett withstood pressure and completed a 10-yard pass to Allen Robinson to keep the drive alive.

“He hung out there and was able to get that ball off just in the nick of time before (safety Kyle Hamilton) got to him,” Sullivan said. “That was a big conversion.”

Pickett had one more on the drive, hitting Pickens for a 21-yard gain on the far sideline with the Steelers facing a third-and-4 situation. Two plays later, he made another adjustment, communicating with center Mason Cole and the rest of the offense that maximum protection was required before he uncorked a throw that resulted in his touchdown pass to Pickens.

“Throughout the game he did a great job of communicating with Mason where we needed to make a protection adjustment to pick up the zero blitz,” Sullivan said. “All 11 defenders were within 5 yards of the line of scrimmage. He did a great job of recognizing that.”

Pickett’s role in the play and what he did — or did not do — before the snap has been the biggest mystery in dissecting the touchdown pass. Did he change the play call? Did he change just the protection or did he also change Pickens’ route?

Pickens said after the game that his route never changed, that he was supposed to run a go route past cornerback Marlon Humphrey. Other players said Pickett audibled at the line of scrimmage. On Tuesday, Pickett said after recognizing that the Ravens were in Cover-0, he gave Pickens his route to run.

“It was something we worked on all week,” Pickett said.

Offensive coordinator Matt Canada had a chance to offer his version Wednesday.

“We broke the huddle, had a play called,” he said. “Kenny did it multiple times through it in this game. We had a Cover-0 plan, which we always have. In that exact instance, the routes were kind of called in the huddle, but the protection had to change. So he came out, saw it, and he made the protection adjustment.”

Canada added that Pickett made similar adjustments “three or four times” earlier in the game.

Pickett’s pre-snap decision-making regarding protections, particularly against the Ravens, has been a positive in a season that has experienced few of them for him and the Steelers offense. The Steelers rank No. 30 in yards per game and No. 29 in points. Pickett has thrown five touchdown passes and four interceptions, and he ranks No. 21 in passing yards and No. 26 in passer rating.

“There have been some setbacks at times, but there has been a lot of progress, and we’re particularly pleased with the end-of-the-game type scenarios. Looking at how we finished the game despite all of the setbacks, despite all the slogging along as it might have seemed, to be able to finish strong and to see it and to have great anticipation is something we’re excited about.”

In his role as quarterbacks coach, Sullivan has worked extensively with Pickett on improving his pocket awareness. Pickett has displayed a tendency, at times, to leave the pocket too early. His decision to do that too early led to a sack late in the third quarter against Houston, shifting the momentum of the game and leaving Pickett with a knee injury.

Pickett has been sacked 14 times this season. Only eight quarterbacks have been dropped more frequently.

“He’s such an open-minded and receptive student,” Sullivan said. “I can’t say enough about Kenny and how hard he works, how receptive he is to coaching, how much he wants to get better. He’ll take a look at the video, and we’ll take a step back and say, ‘Here’s a situation where you can climb that pocket. Here’s a situation where you have to escape. Here’s a situation where you have to hang in there.’ “

Sullivan cited the way Pickett handled the pressure with the pocket collapsing around him on a pass to Pickens against Cleveland that resulted in a 71-yard score.

“He hung in there facing the fan, and that’s a hard thing to coach,” he said. “Quarterbacks tend to either have that or they don’t.”