With the Pittsburgh Steelers’ 2023 season at an end following a bitter loss to the Buffalo Bills in the Wild Card Round, it’s time to look to the future already. There will be plenty to wrap up over the next several months as players come and go, including re-signings, releases, draft picks, perhaps trades, and who knows what else.
We will also inevitably take stock of who had good seasons, who had bad seasons, who improved their position, who hurt theirs. In case you haven’t noticed, the NFL has long turned itself into a 365-day business (366 during leap years), so we’ll always have something to discuss.
Player: WR George Pickens
Stock Value: Down
Reasoning: Though he completed his postseason debut with five catches for 50 yards, it was largely a day to forget for the second-year wide receiver. Aside from his early fumble that directly led to an easy Buffalo Bills touchdown, he also struggled to haul in some downfield pass targets and once again showed some frustration in-game and afterward, ranting about the officiating. This evaluation only reflects his performance in the playoff game, not a season-long view, which will come later.
George Pickens only caught five passes on 11 targets. That’s not wholly his fault. Two of the passes that were aimed for him were batted down at the line of scrimmage, so there is nothing he could have done there. Then he caught five of the nine that came anywhere near him.
The problem is that he let one of them get away from him. Initially ruled an incompletion because he lost control of the football, a Buffalo Bills challenge turned it into an eight-yard reception and a fumble, recovered by the defense. The Bills struck immediately with a 29-yard touchdown pass on the next play.
He didn’t make his first reception without losing the ball until the two-minute warning in the first half, catching a pair of five-yard receptions on consecutive plays. A few snaps later, QB Mason Rudolph hit WR Diontae Johnson for a touchdown.
Aside from the fumble, the play that sticks out is a 3rd-and-9 incompletion in the middle of the third quarter. Rudolph looked for him over the middle down the field, but the best player in the NFL in combat situations in 2022 was unable to come down with it, and the Steelers had to settle for a field goal.
Make no mistake, he still made some nice plays, including back-to-back catches of 19 and 15 yards in the closing minute of the third quarter. The first of those came on 3rd and 11 and kept hopes of a comeback alive, allowing Pittsburgh to make it a one-score game by the end of the drive.
On the whole, however, it wasn’t the sort of performance you expect from your No. 1 receiver. It didn’t help that he struggled to contain his emotions once again. After the game, he spent his time with the media complaining about the officiating and even saying that he couldn’t even think about anything else, so embedded it was in his consciousness.
