A quarterback change that better suited him from a downfield passing attack perspective, and being more featured in the game plan helped unlock some of the best play George Pickens has had in his Pittsburgh Steelers career.
On Sunday night against the New York Jets, Pickens had a monster day, hauling in five passes for 111 yards and one touchdown, dominating from start to finish in the Steelers’ 37-15 win.
The fact that it came with veteran quarterback Russell Wilson inserted into the starting lineup isn’t all that suprising.
For Good Morning Football’s Kyle Brandt, Pickens seemingly took a star turn Sunday night and has the hope of the new dynamic connection in Pittsburgh being sky-high moving forward.
“George Pickens looked like a superstar last night. Every catch was the freakiest circus catch,” Brandt said, according to video via Good Morning Football.
Over the last three years, that’s come to be the expectation of Pickens in the Black and Gold. He makes some rather absurd plays.
Sunday night against the Jets, that was the case once again.
Pickens made a great contested catch down the left sideline for a 44-yard gain to spark the Steelers’ offense after an ugly first quarter. He later had an 11-yard touchdown to end the first half. Beating Jets backup cornerback Jarrick Bernard-Converse for the score, Pickens hauled in the jump ball from Wilson to make it a 15-13 game, giving the Steelers momentum.
In the second half, Pickens made an absurd juggling catch down the right sideline to spark the Steelers again. He then drew a 29-yard pass interference penalty against Jets All-Pro corner Sauce Gardner, and took over the game for a stretch.
It was rather impressive stuff, and it was good to see Pickens have that big game after going through some ups and downs.
Having Wilson at quarterback might unlock him fully, on and off the field. That’s not a knock on Justin Fields, either, who had a great connection with Pickens and helped the Steelers receiver make some great plays earlier in the season.
There’s something special with Wilson. He is a guy whom Pickens stated earlier in the season is the type of veteran on offense he hasn’t had, one he can learn and grown from on and off the field from a talent and leadership perspective.
For one week at least, that connection was dominant and has many believing they can take things to another level moving forward. In that one week, Pickens tapped into his superstar ability and changed the game. More of that moving forward, please.
