When you are the new kid at school, the hope is just to fit in as you go with the crowd.
WR George Pickens isn’t your average kid at school, though. He is authentically himself as a unique character both on and off the field. He has set himself apart physically, making highlight-reel catches that most people can only dream of making while being a laid-back dude who strives to be his best to help win football games.
Speaking to Missi Matthews of Steelers.com in an interview, Matthews asked Pickens if Pittsburgh had been able to find an identity as an offense during the spring practices and in training camp. Pickens responded, not from an X’s and O’s standpoint, but rather from the view that the Steelers’ identity as an offense is far more advanced than what it was just a season ago.
“I would probably say just more composed, for real,” Pickens told Matthews via video from Steelers.com. “That’s what I would say was the biggest identity I personally took from it. Just because all of the guys are laid back, chill, and doing their assignments pretty efficiently compared to where it was last year.”
Typically, when someone asked what the identity of your offense is, you would expect an answer along the lines of being more run heavy or a spread aerial attack in the passing game. Pickens instead looked at the question from the lens of growth, recognizing how much each individually player as well as the collective has improved since the end of the 2022 season to now. Matthews asked Pickens if that had to do with the age of the group last season, to which Pickens responded that a natural maturation process had to occur for Pittsburgh’s young offensive players to get their feet wet and take the right steps forward to be successful.
“I feel like the age, you know, anybody’s first time go around in anything is going to be kind of like a tough thing,” Pickens said. “I feel like now, like you said, way more comfortable, Year Two, knowing the plays, knowing the coverages. So ya, it’s a way more composed group, for sure.”
The Steelers fielded one of the youngest offenses in the NFL last season with their starting quarterback, running back, wide receiver, tight end, and left tackle all being in their first two seasons. With all that youth and inexperience, there was expected to be some growing pains, both individually as well as collectively. They went through those growing pains to start the 2022 campaign, enduring a 2-6 start as well as a quarterback change in Week Four as Pittsburgh tried to right the ship with Kenny Pickett at the helm.
Pittsburgh managed to turn the season around, albeit with an offense not taking drastic steps forward to close out the year. However, that growth continued into the offseason as Pickens and the rest of the players worked on their individual craft as well as got together and worked to be a more cohesive unit, showing the fruits of their labor this preseason with dynamic play on the offensive side of the football.
The Steelers’ offense may still be a young group, but those players are now battle-tested and have become a more composed unit after facing trial by fire last season. This will hopefully lead to a balanced offensive attack where the running game can be more effective as well as Pickett, Pickens, and company show that growth together as the Steelers attempt to open it up more through the air than they have the last several seasons.
