Even since the return of Pittsburgh Steelers WR Diontae Johnson from injury in Week Seven against the Los Angeles Rams, opposing defenses have still keyed on WR George Pickens. Pickens is Pittsburgh’s leading receiver, with 30 receptions for 521 yards and three touchdowns, but over the last two weeks he’s been held to just three catches for 21 yards and a touchdown.
While he had a 22-yard touchdown pass reception against the Jacksonville Jaguars in Week Eight, he was held to two catches for negative-one yard against the Tennessee Titans and failed to get his foot down on a play that should have been a touchdown. His frustration has seemingly mounted with his performance dipping and defenses trying to take him away, but Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin sees it as a positive that Pickens is getting extra attention.
“That’s just everyday business. When you’ve got a dynamic guy, I think we even talked about it some in here last week, that he dictates oftentimes that it’s two on one football. And so it’s an 11-on-11 game. And so when he’s getting that type of attention, a guy like Diontae is going to have an opportunity to have volume catches. You’re gonna have an opportunity to have a light box and your run game is gonna have an opportunity to be effective, for example. And so, man, we appreciate his talents. We respect what people do to minimize his talents, but we function as a collective. And there’s some benefits for our collective when people make the type of commitment that they made recently to try to minimize his impact on the game,” Tomlin said during his Tuesday press conference via Steelers.com
Tomlin gave a similar answer last week about the attention on Pickens opening things up for others. Since Johnson’s return, he’s been the clear-cut favorite target of QB Kenny Pickett, hauling in 20 receptions over three games. The running game also got going against Tennessee, with both RBs Jaylen Warren and Najee Harris running for 65-plus yards as Pittsburgh totaled 167 yards on the ground, if you take away Pickett’s kneel down to end the game. But it’s not as if the passing game has been all that good this season. They’re not setting the world on fire, and having two receivers who can impact the game by more than just essentially being a decoy would help this team out a lot.
In addition, the run game results are just a one-game sample size right now. They struggled to get going on the ground against the Jaguars, and it’s no guarantee that the Steelers will continue to find success on the ground, and if they do, I’m not sure the attention being paid to Pickens is really the reason why.
When Johnson got hurt, Pickens was Pittsburgh’s only real weapon in the passing game, especially after TE Pat Freiermuth went down with an injury. WR Calvin Austin III is a deep threat, but you aren’t going to get much else out of him, and while WR Allen Robinson II has been a threat on third downs, he isn’t a guy you can turn to for consistent production. Now that Johnson’s back though, he’s really been Pittsburgh’s only weapon with teams designing their defense to take Pickens away. While it does open some things up offensively for the Steelers, this isn’t a good enough offense that they should feel comfortable not utilizing Pickens.
Pickens still isn’t the cleanest route runner and has some things he needs to tidy up, like his concentration and focus, which became abundantly clear after the touchdown that wasn’t against the Titans.
But he’s still an immensely talented wide receiver, a physical specimen who would really benefit the Steelers and their downfield passing attack. They have to find ways to scheme him open and get him going so he can make an impact and help out Pickett.
The Steelers can’t afford to only have one reliable receiving threat. Pickens is going to have to find a way to be better and the Steelers are going to have to help him by not just being content with the attention paid to him by defenses. He’s still a good enough player that he should be able to combine with Johnson to elevate the passing game as a whole. Of course, that also comes down to Pickett being able to put the ball where he should, and he missed Pickens early in the Titans game for a play that should’ve been a reception and a potential big gain.
But with the struggles that this Pittsburgh passing game has had, the Steelers can’t keep Pickens out of the game plan. We’ll see if he gets more of a look on Sunday against the Green Bay Packers.
