For as talented as he is, Pittsburgh Steelers second-year wide receiver George Pickens seemingly can’t stay out of his own way.
Once again, Pickens made himself part of the discussion for all the wrong reasons. On Saturday against the Indianapolis Colts, Pickens didn’t block his man on a Jaylen Warren run, putting in very little effort and then standing around watching as his defender tackled Warren short of the goal line.
Later in the game, Pickens had strange effort after a Mitch Trubisky interception, running the other direction from the defensive back who had picked off the pass. The two instances against the Colts are a continuation of his rather difficult second season from an effort and attitude standpoint.
That has NBC Sports’ Peter King rather fired up, wanting the Steelers to make Pickens a healthy scratch Saturday against the Cincinnati Bengals to send a message.
“What George Pickens is doing right now is absolutely, totally unacceptable. Totally. And you have to figure out, is George Pickens, first of all, saveable?” King asked Tuesday during an appearance on 93.7 The Fan’s Cook and Joe Show. “He’s got such great talent that I think everybody wants to say that, ‘Well, you know, you can’t do anything with George Pickens. He’s just too good. If he went somewhere else, he’d turn into, you know, the second coming of Randy Moss.’
“Well, you know, I don’t really care how great he could be or should be. I care about how great he is, and he’s not great right now because there are plays that he just absolutely dogs it. That must be fixed, period.”
Head coach Mike Tomlin called Pickens’ sideline outbursts and emotions “a problem” after the loss to the New England Patriots, something Tomlin had never truly acknowledged.
Yet, despite him calling Pickens’ attitude issues a problem, nothing has been done about it, at least from the viewpoint of the fan base and the media. Tomlin typically handles that stuff internally, and he acknowledged Friday during his sit-down with Steelers.com’s Bob Labriola that he had a “great meeting” with Pickens earlier in the week.
That meeting doesn’t seem to have done a darn thing though. Pickens reverted back to his usual self Saturday against the Colts. He dogged it on the Warren run and then jogged the other way on Trubisky’s second interception of the game, not even getting in on the tackle attempt.
Time and time again, the film doesn’t lie when it comes to Pickens’ effort. As King said, it is totally unacceptable, yet he keeps getting away with it.
King isn’t giving up all hope on the uber-talented receiver though.
“His career’s not over. It can be salvaged, it can be fixed. But if I were the Steelers right now…I know how important this game is…he’d be deactivated Sunday against Cincinnati,” King said of Pickens.
That’s simply not going to happen, especially after Diontae Johnson wasn’t benched after his poor effort in a win over the Cincinnati Bengals in Week 12. But it should be up for consideration.
Pickens needs a wake-up call — and fast. When that wake-up call comes though is anyone’s guess.
