When you have a former Cincinnati Bengal singing the praises of a current Pittsburgh Steeler, it can come off as a bit of a shock.
Former Bengals WR Chad Johnson starred in the league for over a decade, posting seven 1,000+ yards seasons as a six-time Pro Bowler and two-time First-Team All-Pro. He managed to be the thorn in Pittsburgh’s side for most of the 2000s, combining with WR T.J. Houshmandzadeh to form one of the better wide-receiver duos in football at the time. Johnson appeared on the Nightcap Show with former NFL TE Shannon Sharpe and the two broke down Pittsburgh’s win against the Tennessee Titans on Thursday night. When going through his takeaways from the contest, Johnson specifically called out WR George Pickens for his missed touchdown in the end zone against the Titans, calling him far too talented not to make that play.
“George Pickens, you are one of the best, easily top five in the league, if they can use you right, but when your opportunities come to you, baby, I love you, you gotta make the most of them,” Johnson said on Nightcap which aired on the show’s YouTube Channel. “You have to make the most of them. Due to the inconsistencies at quarterback, you gotta do everything you can when the ball comes your way.”
With 5:49 left in the third quarter, QB Kenny Pickett went to WR George Pickens who ran a slot fade to the end zone. Pickett delivered a nice ball over the shoulder to Pickens, but he was unable to get both feet down in-bounds as he planted his right foot down but didn’t drag his left foot on the grass before momentum carried him out of bounds, resulting in an incomplete pass.
Sharpe wasn’t as forgiving to Pickens with his critique of the play, stating that he must play with more detail to make the routine plays routinely to become the star he can be in this league.
“Bro, you put too much work in,” Sharpe said. “That’s lazy feet. That’s lazy. There’s no other way around it. That’s just being lazy. You know you can’t take that long of a step in the end zone on a catch like that.”
Frankly, there’s a lot of truth to Sharpe’s criticism of Pickens not getting his feet down in bounds on that potential touchdown. We’ve seen Pickens make those plays routinely along the sideline and in the end zone in the past, having the spatial awareness and the body control to contort himself into position to make the catch and get both feet down in-bounds. With Pickens having that much space to get both feet down in-bounds, it’s disappointing that he didn’t make the play and does show some “lazy feet” as Sharpe mentioned above.
“Even though it’s not a true sideline throw, you might have to go dead,” Sharpe continued. “You might just have to go limp….But in a situation like that, you can’t leave an opportunity like that because as you step up in competition, you know every play matters, every point matters.”
That touchdown would’ve put Pittsburgh up 17-13 late in the third quarter, but Pittsburgh ultimately had to settle for a field goal on that drive to tie things up. Pittsburgh would score late in the fourth to take the lead and seal the win, but Pickens had the opportunity to grab the lead for Pittsburgh at that moment. Pickens knows what it means to come up big in crucial moments, having scored the game-winning touchdown against the Ravens earlier this season as well as the walk-off touchdown against the Raiders last year during Christmas. We saw him express his frustrations during the game due to his performance, but the fact of the matter is that he had chances to impact the game, but just didn’t execute.
When you have immense talent and have shown that you can make special plays, that becomes the expectation. Pickens has made the incredible plays become routine with him, making a highlight reel catch on nearly a weekly basis. Obviously, everyone has their slip-ups and mistakes, but Pickens can’t complain about a lack of involvement in the offense when he had a key opportunity to put Pittsburgh ahead, but couldn’t get his second foot down in-bounds. Luckily, Pittsburgh managed to win the game, but this will be a good learning lesson for Pickens moving forward regarding making the subtle plays like getting your feet down in-bounds as he continues to develop into the receiver he can be in this league.
You can watch the full episode here:
