In the day and age of social media, plenty of Gen Z kids are using their personal pages to share passive-aggressive messages to their followers. This isn’t just a Gen Z thing either. Millennials can do the same thing (I know I’m at fault for this), as people attempt to voice their feelings, concerns, and frustrations a certain way to get it out to the public without actually saying directly what’s on their minds.
The cast of NFL Network’s GMFB talked about Coach Mike Tomlin’s weekly press conference on Wednesday, specifically his comments on WR George Pickens and his social media antics after visibly displaying his frustration during the Titans’ game due to his lack of involvement. Tomlin labeled the Pickens drama as a non-issue and nothing more than a pebble in his shoe that the media is trying to turn into a big story. Former NFL DL Gerald McCoy argued that Tomlin should pay more attention to what Pickens is saying with his actions on the sideline and on social media, stating that it shows signs of another former Steelers wide receiver who had attitude issues that eventually spun out of control.
“Hey listen, Coach, I love you, but this is 2023 and the generation has changed,” McCoy said on GMFB. “These kids use social media to send messages and let’s not act. He could act like it’s not a big deal. But there was a guy that played for Coach Tomlin, pretty good wide receiver. Kind of used social media to stress his points. And it became an issue. It was a pebble. Then it became a boulder. And Antonio Brown, he used social media to stress his opinion and then it became a problem and it spread like wildfire throughout the team. So, he can try and downplay this all he wants, but Pickens is sending a message, and I think he needs to pay a little more attention and understand this generation social media and the message. It’s a thing.”
Less than 24 hours after getting the win against the Tennessee Titans on Thursday Night Football, Pickens took to his Instagram page and scrubbed it of all his Steelers posts while saying “Free me” in a story on his feed, which he would later take down.
It’s obvious that Pickens was taking to social media to voice his frustrations from Thursday night’s game, feeling uninvolved in the offense as he only caught two passes of five targets for minus-one yard. Tomlin may have said it’s a little thing, but that can quickly become a big thing, going from a smoldering ember to a full-blown wildfire if left unattended. That was the case with former Steelers WR Antonio Brown, whom McCoy brought up. Having come into the league as a young, talented playmaker, Brown eventually let his ego run amok and his antics started to become greater, eventually affecting the team. Former Steelers TE Matt Spaeth mentioned that Tomlin did a good job of handling the Brown antics well behind the scenes, but he never nipped that issue in the bud fully, allowing the whole situation to spiral out of control.
Several analysts and former players following the situation have suggested that Tomlin address the issue of Pickens’ antics sooner rather than later to prevent the second-year wide receiver from reaching Brown’s level and negatively affecting the team. It’s important to have control over your emotions, especially when you are a professional athlete with all eyes on you.
Pickens needs to be a good teammate, focused on the primary goal of winning, knowing that he will have bad games, but that he is good enough of a player to bounce back from them to put up big games. It first starts with keeping his composure on the field. Weeding out the social media antics also is very important to keep Pickens from going down a path no one wants to see him take.
