Usually, Mike Tomlin speaks to the media during his normal noon press conference and isn’t heard from until his postgame presser. This week is different. With WR George Pickens under heat for his lack of effort on a goal-line play in Saturday’s loss to the Indianapolis Colts, Tomlin took the podium following Wednesday’s practice to speak about Pickens and his maturity.
As laid out in a series of tweets from Steelers.com writer Dale Lolley, Tomlin called Pickens “talented” while noting he’s still “growing in a lot of ways” on and off the field.
“I wanted to address some George Pickens items that have been hot, I guess, in the last 24 hours,” Tomlin said as aired by 93.7 The Fan after the fact. “As I said at the top of the week, George is a talented guy. But he’s growing and growing in a lot of ways in regards to football and life. We don’t run away from that. We run to that organizationally when we draft guys, we are committed to being a component of their growth and development in all areas. As I mentioned earlier this week, it is very much a work in progress.”
Pickens followed up his poor-effort block against the Colts by trying to defend it to the media, saying he didn’t want to get hurt and accusing those criticizing him as being media-types who haven’t played football before. Tomlin said Pickens didn’t express that opinion to him and pointed to his response as an immature moment he needs to learn from.
Beyond that, Pickens denied meeting with Tomlin leading up to the Colts game despite Tomlin telling Steelers.com’s Bob Labriola the two had a great conversation during the week. Tomlin addressed it by saying they met last Wednesday, Dec. 13, and they met again today.
“We meet on a routine basis,” Tomlin clarified via The Fan. “We met last Wednesday, he and I. We met again today and so just wanted to be clear in some of those things. I would like him to be more professional in terms of addressing some of his shortcomings with you guys to further add fluidity to the process. He’s not helping himself. He’s not helping the process in the manner in which he’s dealt with you guys.”
With a media scrum that did him no favors, some began to wonder if Tomlin would take punishment a step further and bench Pickens to send a message he has to grow up. But Tomlin said Pickens will play this weekend against the Cincinnati Bengals as the Steelers essentially need to win out to have a chance to make the playoffs.
Via The Trib’s Joe Rutter:
Tomlin explained why:
“He’s got talents,” he said via The Fan. “We want to utilize them. He’s very much in growth and development, but it’d be the same if we were winning games or if he said appropriate things with you guys yesterday.”
Tomlin added that any punishment Pickens receives would be handled in-house and not shared with the media or public. Speaking with reporters earlier today, OC Eddie Faulkner implied Pickens’ “block” was addressed with the whole team during a meeting.
Based off media tweets (the presser was not carried out live), the closest Tomlin came to outright criticizing Pickens was, via reporter Amanda Godsey, Tomlin saying it’s smart to “keep your mouth shut” when the team is losing and things aren’t going well.
Via 93.7 The Fan, here’s the fuller comment.
“When you’re winning and doing your job, man, a lot of the attention and so forth,” Tomlin said. “When you’re not doing your job and losing, you better keep your damn mouth shut and understand that that attracts a certain type of attention as well. Usually that’s vulture-like attention.”
With the Steelers losing three straight games and their passing offense lifeless, it’s been a frustrating year on and off the field for Pickens. We’ve spent a lot of time talking about him, perhaps too much, but Pickens is supposed to be one of the top players of an offense that was supposed to take a big leap forward this season. Those things haven’t occurred at the level the Steelers need them to. And when teams are stuck in losing streaks like Pittsburgh, comments like Pickens’ get magnified.
Tomlin acknowledged working with Pickens is a process and doesn’t take a day or one week to solve.
“These young people growing and developing. and let’s be honest, man, the process at times is challenging because of them, because of their talents are a blessing and a curse. Some people hate him for no reason. Some people give them everything they ask for no reason. We just try to give him truth and have a commitment in terms of working with him day to day and knowing that maturation and growth is a process. It’s not one meeting, it’s not one incident, it’s not one form of discipline. It’s a process.”
Though Tomlin’s press conference today was rare, highlighting the need he (or the team’s PR staff) felt to address things, he said he’ll keep most of the mentoring between himself and Pickens in-house.
“I like to keep his growth and development and the things regarding his growth and development private, to be quite honest with you. Talking about it in this setting, doesn’t aid in the process or speed up the process. But rest assured there’s a commitment here. Not only from us, but from him in terms of growing as a man and a player.”
Based off the tweet-porting, it’s clear Tomlin’s overall message is defending Pickens as he faces plenty of outside criticism. Tomlin’s has consistently defended Pickens through the latter’s two years in Pittsburgh, once snapping at a reporter who hinted at Pickens having character concerns coming out of the draft. But it’s also clear that while talented, Pickens has a lot of growing up to do. Tomlin will have to show him the way.
