There weren’t a lot of positives to take away from the Pittsburgh Steelers’ third straight loss, a 30-13 stinker against the Indianapolis Colts on Saturday night. A lack of effort from WR George Pickens and a questionable decision to punt instead of kicking a field goal by head coach Mike Tomlin drew the ire of NFL insider Peter King, who named Tomlin one of his “Goats of the Week.” He also criticized Pickens’ effort, saying he isn’t someone he would want on his team.
“An awful decision by Tomlin with the Steelers down 11 with 18 minutes to play. Pittsburgh had a fourth down at the Indianapolis 39-yard line with a kicker who’s made five of six from 50 and beyond this season. But Tomlin bypassed giving Chris Boswell a chance to make it a one-score game on a 57-yard attempt in an indoor stadium—with a bad offense in a game he had to have. And on the play before, instead of choosing to get Boswell closer on third-and-14, the Steelers, in a big offensive hole, threw incomplete deep for George Pickens instead of just trying to get it closer to make it a one-score game. Bad day for the Steelers and their coach,” King wrote in his Football Morning In America column for NBC Sports.
He did award Connor Heyward with a Special Teams Player of the Week nod after Heyward’s second-quarter blocked punt helped set up a Steelers touchdown that gave them a 13-0 lead, which they blew by allowing 30 unanswered points.
As for Pickens, King wrote about the receiver’s effort in his “10 Things I Think I Think” portion of his column.
“I think the more I see George Pickens loaf, the more I think I wouldn’t want the man on my team.”
Pickens had a few plays on Saturday where he showed a lack of effort. The first came on his non-attempt to block his assignment on what would have been a touchdown run by Jaylen Warren. Another came on getting beat on a jump ball by safety Nick Cross, which led to an interception. The third came on the bizarre angle he took with no effort being made to bring down the ball carrier following Trubisky’s second interception.
It’s the sort of effort that’s really pathetic in a must-win game, and Pickens wasn’t alone, as the Steelers just got bullied by the Colts in every phase of the game. But it’s not the first time that Pickens’ attitude and frustration have cropped up and become a story and coupling that with his non-effort on a few plays on Saturday makes it an issue. Pickens has a ton of talent, but he needs to show more effort and actually work on his helping his team more than he has been lately.
As for Tomlin, the decision not to kick the field goal was foolish, although he did admit he wanted the check down the play before to set up a field goal to make it a one-score game. Even so, Boswell could’ve hit from 57 yards in a dome, and it was worth the attempt rather than trusting Pressley Harvin III, who struggled all game, to pin the Colts deep. It’s a decision that ultimately played a major factor in the Steelers losing, and it’s just another mark against Tomlin in what’s been a terrible three weeks for the coach and the Steelers.
The Steelers are going to have to find a way to win their next three games if they want to make the playoffs, but with the way they’re playing now, it’s hard to see that happening. I guess we can at least hope that they put forth a better effort on Saturday against the Cincinnati Bengals.
