WR George Pickens has come under intense scrutiny this week for a low-effort play against the Indianapolis Colts on Saturday. It was a toss play to the side he was aligned on, and he opted to not block his man, who went on to help make the stop short of the goal line. This has opened Pandora’s box in Pittsburgh as it isn’t the first time this season a Pittsburgh wide receiver has checked out with a big play happening right next to him. Diontae Johnson had a similar moment against the Cincinnati Bengals a few weeks ago. Two instances of this is starting to become a pattern.
Every aspect of this Pittsburgh Steelers team is now being picked apart by the media. People are wondering if head coach Mike Tomlin needs to go or if the “Steeler Way” has left the building and it just keeps spiraling after three straight losses.
Damien Woody gave his take on the Pickens situation on Get Up this morning on ESPN. He was asked what he would have done as a leader on his former teams if a player pulled something similar.
“Those things are player-led and behind the scenes,” Woody said. “It’s like a group of us just putting our arms around a guy like, look…with the Jets, we brought in a couple quote unquote guys that kind of ruffled some feathers from other organizations, but it was the veteran guys in the locker room, we put our arms around these guys and we said, ‘Listen there’s a certain way that we go about our business here.'”
One of the issues in Pittsburgh is the dearth of veterans on the offensive side of the ball. There are a few, like Isaac Seumalo, James Daniels, Allen Robinson II, and Mason Cole, but all of them were added in the last two offseasons. They are veterans of the NFL, not veterans of the Steelers organization. The only starting player on his second contract with Pittsburgh on offense is Johnson. We don’t know what goes on behind closed doors, but it would be difficult for a guy like Johnson to try to reinforce the standard when he was up in front of the team a few weeks ago apologizing for a low-effort play.
“You can’t have 53 angels in the locker room,” Woody said. “You’re gonna have some rough riders in the locker room. But it’s the guys in the locker room, your leaders in the locker room that really make sure that the standard is the standard. We don’t allow anyone to deviate from the standard. Because once you let that happen, then anarchy takes over.”
So who are these veterans in the locker room that are supposed to be doing this? It is among the youngest starting 11 on offense in the NFL. This could have been a good opportunity to start establishing leadership. Maybe some of that is happening behind the scenes, but to the public it appears that this is being allowed to happen or being minimized by others in the locker room. If that’s the case then the Steelers are at risk of “anarchy” taking over, as Woody put it.
