Wide receiver George Pickens was coming off two of the best games of his career, going for more than 100 yards in Weeks Five and Seven. That streak came crashing to a halt in Sunday’s loss to the Jacksonville Jaguars. Held to just one catch, though it went for a touchdown, Pickens was quiet for most of the afternoon as the Pittsburgh Steelers’ offense sputtered in a 20-10 loss.
During his Tuesday press conference, Coach Mike Tomlin said the Jaguars intentionally took Pickens away, forcing Steelers quarterbacks to look elsewhere.
“They did a really good job of doing some different things and rolling coverage his way,” Tomlin said via the team’s YouTube channel. “But not overly concerned about that component of it. We’ve had dynamic receivers here before who get a lot of attention. when you’re right and well, it creates opportunities for others in the running game and passing game and then thus opens up their opportunities.”
In his second game back from injury, WR Diontae Johnson led the way with eight catches for 85 yards, though there was the opportunity for more. He dropped the first pass of the game that would’ve been a chunk gain down the seam while he and QB Kenny Pickett weren’t on the same page for a would-be touchdown, forcing the Steelers to settle for a field goal.
Now in his second-season, Pickens has seen his game grow. He’s running a fuller route tree, is more dominant after the catch, and is still a big-time threat anytime he’s running down the sideline. Especially while Johnson was sidelined, teams rolled coverage and doubled him to take away Pittsburgh’s top passing game asset, a trend that’s continued even with Johnson back. Aside from the war of words between the Steelers and Jaguars leading into the week, Jacksonville’s public comments focused on Pickens’ ability, not Johnson’s.
As Tomlin said, it’s not a new situation for the Steelers. Antonio Brown was doubled more than any other receiver during his golden years with the Steelers and the offense still found ways to get him the ball. And ways to get others involved and make defenses pay for the extra attention. For Tomlin, failing to do that was Pittsburgh’s biggest problem.
“Our issues yesterday was we didn’t take advantage of the opportunities provided in other areas because of the attention that George was getting,” he said. “And so that’s probably our focus as opposed to when George occupies two guys. That’s great opportunity for others in the running game and passing game and it just wasn’t enough dominance from us in those other areas.”
Johnson bounced back after a poor start and made several solid grabs downfield. But aside from him and Pickens’ touchdown, the rest of the passing game fell flat. Veteran WR Allen Robinson II failed to catch a pass while WR Calvin Austin III had just two grabs for 19 yards, both coming in the final two minutes of the game. Tight end production continues to be minimal. Connor Heyward had a handful of underneath grabs, while rookie TE Darnell Washington hardly played and did not receive a target. The rest of the game was a handful of checkdowns to RBs Najee Harris and Jaylen Warren. The run game also didn’t exist with Harris finishing with 13 yards and Warren with 19.
Limited in so many ways, the Steelers’ offense continues to be one of football’s worst. Heading into Monday night, Pittsburgh ranks 29th in points per game with 16.1 and 31st in yards per game at just under 272. Thursday night, they’ll take on a tough Tennessee Titans outfit that is allowing just 20 points per game and hasn’t given up more than 24 points in any of the Titans’ last four games.
