Speaking to the media Wednesday, WR George Pickens isn’t dwelling on what went wrong Sunday in the Pittsburgh Steelers’ loss to the Indianapolis Colts. Instead, he’s summoning his inner Bill Belichick, moving onto the Dallas Cowboys game that awaits them Sunday night.
“Just thinking about Dallas this week, the team we play Sunday night,” Pickens told reporters in video shared by ESPN’s Brooke Pryor, offering a similar answer throughout the scrum when asked about his lost fumble in Indianapolis.
Pickens’ fumble was a costly one and ended a 91-yard drive that began on the Steelers’ own 4-yard line. Down 17-0, the drive could have ended in a touchdown and helped bring Pittsburgh one step closer to getting back into the game. Pickens caught a short pass along the left side, broke a tackle, but was loose with the football and held it away from his body, allowing the ball to get knocked out and recovered by the Colts at their own 3-yard line.
Pickens had a similar action later in the game, stretching his arm out despite not being near the first-down marker, though there was no Colts player around to take a swipe at the football.
After being asked a third time about the play, Pickens offered a quick response to ensure a fumble doesn’t happen again.
“Just think about Dallas this week,” he said. “A fumble like that, you just want to do ball security. I think every team coach that around the league.”
Since last season, Pickens has fumbled five times, including one in last year’s playoff loss to the Buffalo Bills. The more those moments are on tape, the more defenses will target and test his ball security moving forward.
For a team still lacking offensive horsepower, they’re mistakes that the Steelers can ill-afford. Given how often he’ll be targeted as Pittsburgh’s clear No. 1 receiver with nine more targets than anyone else and 19 more than the next-closest wide receiver, Pickens will have plenty of chances to practice what the coaches preach.
