The Pittsburgh Steelers owe a lot to WR George Pickens for their season-opening victory, as far as the offense goes. The defense and special teams both came up big during the game, but Pickens was their consistent playmaker. His big catch at the end of the first half, for example, played a key role in swinging momentum. Only just barely.
“Thank God his toe went out of bounds. That’s all I’m gonna say with that”, TE Pat Freiermuth said with a laugh on WDVE 102.5. With nine seconds to play, Justin Fields connected with Pickens on a 41-yard gain, the latter avoiding stepping out of bounds, evidently hopeful he could break for the end zone. But he stepped out of bounds, officials ruled, eight yards upfield. Chris Boswell hit a 44-yard field goal, cutting the deficit to 10-9 going into halftime.
I should note that even with George Pickens cutting back into the field of play, he still got out of bounds with one second on the clock. It was a big risk, and one he shouldn’t have taken, but it wasn’t a stray toe that saved him. Instead of a 41-yard gain with one second to spare, it turned into a 33-yard gain and three seconds left. Six of one, half-dozen of the other, for all intents and purposes, merely making for a slightly easier field goal.
Regardless of how he finished the play, the players loved the design. “Basically what we were trying to do is get everybody to go to the left and [Pickens] was on the backside”, Freiermuth explained. “He was selling an over to go over that side, almost like a Hail Mary. Then he bent it back across the field”.
The Steelers were losing steam, beginning with a questionable offensive pass interference penalty called against Pickens. That call stymied a drive, and the Falcons responded with a touchdown—after another questionable call that negated a strip-sack. Atlanta took the lead, but the Steelers stealing a field goal before halftime set up a strong second half.
Former Steelers QB Charlie Batch couldn’t knock George Pickens too hard for wanting to be aggressive. Perhaps he really did think he saw a path to scoring a touchdown on the play—at least I would hope that he did because otherwise it doesn’t make much sense. On his Footbahlin podcast, Ben Roethlisberger had a bit of a different view, yet still praised Pickens.
Pickens finished the game with six catches on seven targets for 85 yards, but you saw the potential for more. With a sufficient volume of targets, he looks like he could explode for 150 any given week. Everybody always acknowledged his talent—the question was always his head and making the right decisions. He’s still not batting 1.000, but nobody does.
