Pittsburgh Steelers WR George Pickens and CB Beanie Bishop Jr. have been fined for their actions in Sunday’s Week 5 loss to the Dallas Cowboys. The NFL fined Pickens $10,230 for unnecessary roughness after he pulled down Cowboys’ CB Jourdan Lewis by the facemask after the final play of the game. Bishop was fined $4,463 for his facemask penalty earlier in the game.
The NFL’s Operations page publicly discloses fines at 4 PM/EST every Saturday and posted the fines for Pickens and Bishop. There is nothing listed for Pickens being fined for his eye black, though it’s possible that just wasn’t publicly disclosed.
Pickens wore eye black that said “Open Fucking Always” that caught plenty of attention in a primetime game against Dallas, one watched by more than 20 million people. Not only is the explicit message against league policy, the NFL has harsh restrictions on any message on a player’s eye black. Years ago, DL Cam Heyward was fined for writing “Iron Head” in a tribute to his late father, Craig “Ironhead’ Heyward.
Speaking to reporters Thursday, Pickens said he didn’t realize it was a league violation and was surprised at the national attention and blowback it received.
“It’s just eye black,” he told the media.
After a failed lateral play on the Steelers’ last snap, Dallas CB Jourdan Lewis got up and chirped Pickens. He responded by pulling down Lewis by the facemask.
Lewis proceeded to call Pickens a “weak receiver” postgame, though he later expressed regret for his comments. The NFL fined him over $11,000 for taunting Pickens on the field before being pulled down.
Pickens finished the day with just three catches for 26 yards on seven targets, playing a season-low 59-percent of the snaps. Mike Tomlin and Arthur Smith have been adamant those were related to game-plan, not performance or attitude.
This is the first time this season George Pickens has been fined for in-game actions. He was fined multiple times last year and according to one offseason report, racked up over $200,000 in fines for public and private infractions by the team and the league. The PPG’s Ray Fittipaldo reported Pickens has shown up late to work multiple times this season, which are presumably also drawing fines from the team.
Bishop was fined for pulling down Cowboys WR KaVontae Turpin by the facemask early in the second quarter. He was flagged and the team penalized 15 yards.
All fines are pre-set amounts determined by the CBA. Players on smaller contracts can have their fines reduced to a more proportional amount to their base salaries. All fine money is donated by the NFL to charity.
