If you look up any news on the Pittsburgh Steelers today, it’s likely to be centered on WR George Pickens and his lack of effort blocking for RB Jaylen Warren last Saturday against the Indianapolis Colts in what could have been a touchdown run. Pickens later defended himself, stating that he didn’t want to get rolled up on and injured on the play. He also said that the media doesn’t know what they are talking about since they aren’t playing the game, painting a bad image in the eyes of the media and the fan base.
Multiple media networks have been talking about Pickens’ comments the last couple of days with Mike Florio and Chris Simms of Pro Football Talk being the latest to weigh in on Pickens’ remarks. Florio complimented Pickens, calling him a talent similar to Hall of Fame WR Randy Moss, but he also compared Pickens to Moss in a negative sense.
“The one thing he has in common with Moss, ‘I play when I wanna play,'” Florio said about Pickens via video from NFL on NBC’s YouTube channel. “He’s showing the wrong Randy Moss tendencies in not exhibiting any effort when it’s time to block, especially given his history and his ability and the fact that he used to take pride in putting guys on their ass. So, look. I think the talent is still there. It’s just gone sideways. It’s gone haywire with him and the Steelers.”
When you look at the two wide receivers, there are several similarities that pass the eye test. Moss stands 6-4, 210 pounds while Pickens also is a slender, big-bodied pass catcher, standing 6-3, 200 pounds. Both pass catchers are great athletes who possess impressive body control and hands, being able to make circus catches. Both operate well when stretching the field, using their height, speed, and leaping ability to defeat opposing defensive backs at the catch point and make highlight reel plays.
Still, Pickens is nowhere close to Moss when it comes to being a well-rounded pass catcher, at least at this stage of his NFL career. He has started to show some of Moss’s bad tendencies in his first two seasons however, taking plays off when he doesn’t get the ball or stewing from something that happened previously. Moss was also criticized for not giving full effort as a blocker during his time in the league, picking his battles, much like Pickens has shown more of in his second NFL season.
The frustrating thing about Pickens is that we know he can be a good blocker. He was known for being a tenacious run blocker coming out of Georgia and routinely put opposing defensive backs on the ground as a rookie and to start the 2023 campaign. Going back through Moss’s tape, you see a similar story. Moss was effective in the blocking department but only when he wanted to be.
The problem of being an uber-talented player like Pickens or Moss is that you feel you can turn it off and on when you want to, knowing you can go through the motions and still make some plays. Less talented players don’t have that luxury, having to be going balls to the wall on every snap to execute and stay around in the league. Pickens has allowed his emotions and frustration over Pittsburgh’s offense to leak into other aspects of his play, which is only affecting him and his perception off the field by the media and the fan base.
The root cause of these issues for Pickens is the ability to self-regulate emotions and learn to keep your composure in those hard moments. For the Steelers’ sake, they better find a way to help Pickens work through this phase while Pickens genuinely has to want that for himself. Otherwise, he’ll be the latest talented wide receiver to see himself shipped out of town due to attitude issues like Antonio Brown and Chase Claypool, having all the talent in the world but no ability to control and channel it.
