The bad news is that the return of WR Diontae Johnson has not prevented defenses from committing extra defenders to try to take WR Geoge Pickens out of the game. Or rather, that’s the good news, according to head coach Mike Tomlin, who welcomes teams’ willingness to focus their attentions on the budding young star.
“They were playing two-on-one football”, he told Bob Pompeani on the Mike Tomlin Show when asked about how the Jacksonville Jaguars largely kept Pickens from making plays throughout the game—aside from his touchdown, of course.
“And really, that’s a good sign to be quite honest with you”, Tomlin continued. “We are experienced with that. We’ve had dynamic receivers here in the past that have garnered that type of attention, and usually it just makes the sledding much easier for others, whether it’s the passing game or opportunities in the running game”.
Pickens has played the majority of his second season as the team’s clear number one target after Johnson injured his hamstring in the opener, and not without success. He caught four passes for 127 yards and a touchdown a week after that.
In the final game before the bye week, prior to Johnson’s return, he had another big game. Against the Baltimore Ravens, he caught another six passes on 10 targets for 130 yards and another touchdown, in this case a game-winning score in the fourth quarter.
Even after Johnson returned, he caught five passes on eight targets for 107 yards last week. He was unable to follow that up against the Jaguars, catching only one pass on five targets. But it was a 22-yard catch and run that finished in the end zone, his third touchdown of the year.
At 28 receptions on the season for 522 yards and three touchdowns, Pickens is on pace to have a fine season. At least theoretically, his numbers in the second half of the season should be even better, especially with the offense closer to full strength. As it is, he is on pace for 68 catches on the year for 1,268 yards and seven touchdowns.
His style of play makes it easy for Pickens to get noticed, so defenses are certainly aware of him. He has plenty of tape demonstrating his play-making ability when given the opportunity. He just wasn’t afforded as many against the Jaguars, seeing a season-low five targets.
Still, I’m not so sure they should welcome double coverage for Pickens. They have been working to minimize that by frequently setting him apart on one side of the formation, in fact. But I don’t think this one particular game is really indicative of anything one way or another.
