If the Pittsburgh Steelers have an offensive identity, the man running the offense struggles to put it into words. He isn’t their captain, but Justin Fields has steered the ship the past five weeks. Too often, however, they look like they’re drifting without a sail.
The Steelers need someone who can steer them in the right direction, not just on but also off the field. That’s what former Steelers QB Charlie Batch believes, which he discussed on the SNR postgame show. As you might guess, they were talking about George Pickens when the subject came up.
“It goes back to my point of saying there was a veteran presence”, Batch said of the Steelers’ offense. “You’re able to reel those guys in. There’s always somebody in that group that is your leader. And right now on the offensive side of the ball, [they don’t have that]”.
He noted the continual shuffling of captains, mentioning that RB Najee Harris was a captain one year, and then not. They have had three different quarterbacks as captains the past three years, none of whom worked out. Right now, Russell Wilson is their captain, and he hasn’t played yet—nor do we know if and when he will.
“All I’m saying is that veteran presence that you need on both sides of the ball, you have it on the defensive side, your Cam Heywards, your Minkah Fitzpatricks on [that] side”, Batch continued about the Steelers’ leadership dynamics. “Offensively, you don’t have that at all. You brought Russell Wilson [in] to be that guy, but when you’re not playing, you can’t be that guy”.
“They’re still looking for that on the offensive side, and they’ve been looking at it since Ben Roethlisberger retired”.
Now, Russell Wilson would actually be a fine leader if he were simply in that position. But as Batch said, you can’t lead from the bench. Perhaps that is one incentive for the Steelers to make that switch from Justin Fields to Wilson. He could potentially infuse that missing leadership element—maybe slap Pickens upside the head in the huddle. With a positive attitude, of course.
The Steelers’ offense isn’t exactly running amok, but it remains an issue when your best player is a man-child. Pickens is clearly frustrated, and he is increasingly channeling that in unproductive ways. For what it’s worth, Batch said he doesn’t have a problem with some of Pickens’ antics.
But would he be behaving this way if the Steelers had stronger leadership—well, perhaps. He does think he’s the best wide receiver in the world, even though he has done little to prove it. At the end of the day, though, he is only a symptom, not a cause, of the leadership void.
