They didn’t score a touchdown, but the Pittsburgh Steelers managed to go into Atlanta and leave with a win. The journey to get there wasn’t pretty, but the offense did look better than it did last year. One issue they may still have, however, is at wide receiver. George Pickens looked like he was going to continue to be a force of nature, but the rest of that group had a tough time in Week 1. Mike Tomlin does not seem concerned, though.
In his press conference after the game, Tomlin was asked how he felt about the growth in the receiver room during this game.
“I’ve got no reservations about our wide receiver room,” Tomlin said via the team’s YouTube channel. “They did what I expected them to do, which is play make. I’m appreciative of their efforts today.”
That’s a pretty surprising endorsement from Tomlin considering how lackluster everyone besides Pickens played. Pickens had 6 catches for 85 yards, with several big plays made, but the rest of the receivers only accounted for 2 catches for 8 total yards. There wasn’t as much play making from them as Tomlin implies here.
Part of that lack of production could be chalked up to the confusion late in the week with Russell Wilson hurt. Justin Fields had a few opportunities to hit receivers for small gains but was off target. That move from Wilson to Fields at quarterback could have had an impact on the offense as well, with so little time to properly prepare.
Whatever the case, that group needs to have a better overall showing next week. Eventually, teams aren’t going to allow Pickens to beat them. The Steelers obviously wanted to upgrade at receiver when they targeted Brandon Aiyuk, and now why. Although they ran the ball effectively, they can’t allow themselves to become one-dimensional.
Really, the next best contributor in the receiver room was Scotty Miller on special teams. Not only did he make a big tackle on Chris Boswell’s punt, but he was also the emergency holder during field goals. Those efforts were huge, but at some point, someone outside of Pickens needs to get open and catch the ball. We’ll see next week if the process is smoother and leads to better results.
