Now that the Pittsburgh Steelers’ 2023 season is getting underway after the team finished above .500 but failing to make the postseason last year, we turn our attention to the next chapter of Steelers football and everything that entails. One thing that it means is that some stock evaluations are going to start taking on more specific contexts as we get into the season, reflecting more immediate plusses and minus rather than trends over long periods. The nature of the evaluation, whether short-term or long-term, will be noted in the reasoning section below.
Player: WR George Pickens
Stock Value: Up
Reasoning: Facing a week of perhaps the most intense professional criticism in his young adult life, Pickens responded on the field in a big way. He caught four passes for 195 yards and two touchdowns against the Cincinnati Bengals in a must-win game. Three great plays don’t completely flip the narrative, but it doesn’t hurt, either.
Nobody ever questioned if WR George Pickens was capable of producing a game like the one he had on Saturday. On just four catches, he put up 195 yards of offense and found the end zone two times. He recorded the longest play of the NFL season on the Steelers’ second offensive play of the game, an 86-yard catch-and-run off a slant.
All he did as an encore was catch a 66-yard touchdown pass in the second half on a deep shot. He also caught a 44-yard pass on the longest completion in terms of air yards this season for the team. Three big plays that speak to the talent that has always been at the heart of the discussion about the young man.
Having that type of game is helpful in reminding of us of that fact. But it doesn’t change the underlying concerns that were building in the weeks leading up to his breakout performance against the Cincinnati Bengals.
He still displayed some indications of immaturity, as some might perceive it. He motioned with a finger to his lips after his first touchdown to tell the crowd to be quiet. He pointed at a would-be tackler as he scored his second, and then found a camera to gesture that he wasn’t listening to all the talk. After the game, asked what he learned from the week, he led by noting that he “kept receipts” of what had been said.
The thing is, those things don’t seem to matter when he and the team are successful. The issue is keeping Pickens and the team successful. That’s been the root of all this. A young man in his second year, yes, he has at times displayed some immaturity. His teammates and coaches have talked about it openly, so I’m not going out on a limb here.
It’s also equally true that by no means had the Steelers been successful in maximizing what they could get out of him on the field. He plays an inherently frustrating position, but they exacerbated his frustrations with an inability to provide him with the opportunities he deserved. They managed that often enough last week. They’ll need to continue to do so, and when they don’t, Pickens will have to find a way to handle it better.
