PFF analysts Sam Monson and Steve Palazzolo broke down the Week 15 slate, and when looking at the Pittsburgh Steelers’ 30-13 loss to the Indianapolis Colts, the two expressed some frustration with second-round receiver George Pickens.
Pickens showed very questionable effort on a Jaylen Warren run that should have been a touchdown, and he’s had issues with his frustration this year to the point that Mike Tomlin had to address it in his press conference last week. Monson questioned how the Steelers and Pickens specifically showed a lack of effort in a must-win game regarding their playoff chances.
“George Pickens, I mean, the lack of effort across the board from this Pittsburgh team,” Monson said. “The Steelers are in playoff contention. They are somehow in good standing despite the team not actually being that great. Why have they got players not giving 100% effort?”
Monson specifically called out the receiver room with Diontae Johnson and Pickens as an issue and said that for as good as the Steelers are drafting receivers, they need to take potential character issues at the position into account more.
“While George Pickens is immeasurably talented, if you can’t stop him from going five minutes before he throws his toys out of the pram and goes off in a sulk on the sideline, you’re gonna have a problem,” Monson said.
Palazzolo blamed Pickens for not making a play on the ball on the throw that ended up being Mitch Trubisky’s first interception.
“Just as problematic for me was the first interception by Mitchell Trubisky,” he said. “Trubisky basically throws a jump ball to George Pickens against a safety. To me, that’s not a good decision, but it’s not a turnover-worthy play decision. George Pickens should win that. And he gets bodied at the catch point by Nick Cross for an interception.”
The two also pointed out that Pickens’ production on contested catches is down from an absurd 68% catch rate as a rookie to just 29% this year, and that play against Cross is an example of him struggling more with contested catches this season. Pickens’ effort becomes more of a concern when coupled with his attitude and frustration about not getting the ball enough. Trubisky also said Pickens took a different angle than he expected on the play.
Monson’s point about the Steelers’ lack of effort with their season on the line is spot on, and they got completely and utterly dominated by the Colts. It was frankly an embarrassing effort, and that blame shouldn’t exclusively fall on Pickens. While he didn’t put his best effort forward at times when it was very noticeable, the rest of his teammates weren’t exactly giving it their all out there. That’s a coaching issue that the Steelers weren’t fully ready to rock and roll, especially coming off back-to-back losses to 2-10 opponents.
We’ll see if this team has enough fight in it to try to get to .500 with three games remaining. The Steelers’ only hope at the postseason likely involves them winning out, something that just doesn’t seem likely with how bad this team has looked.
