It was not a banner day for the Pittsburgh Steelers’ offense in their 20-17 loss to the Dallas Cowboys in Week 5, and No. 1 receiver George Pickens finished with just three receptions for 26 yards. That led Pickens to catch some criticism from Cowboys CB Jourdan Lewis, who called Pickens “weak” on his way to the locker room. Bobby Belt of 105.3 The Fan in Dallas tweeted the video of Lewis chirping Pickens.
“Pittsburgh need a receiver. George Pickens weak.”
Pickens had just one catch for eight yards in the first half, and despite being targeted seven times, he was only able to pull in three receptions and there were times in the second half where he was on the bench despite being Pittsburgh’s No. 1 wideout. Mike Tomlin said it was a product of Pittsburgh trying to cut his reps to get “higher-quality play.”
“He wasn’t less of a focal point in terms of our intention of what we wanted to do offensively, but we did want to cut his reps a little bit in an effort to get higher-quality play, just in general,” Tomlin said via the team’s YouTube channel.
It simply wasn’t a good performance by Pickens, and this week, he’s the target of some trash talk from an opponent after a loss. Last week, it was RB Najee Harris who was called out by Indianapolis Colts LB Zaire Franklin after a rough game, and Lewis took a shot at Pickens tonight.
After Pittsburgh’s final play, Lewis and Pickens seemed to exchange some words and Pickens looked to pull Lewis down, and an official separated the two. So it seems that whatever was going on between the two on the field spilled off it, and Lewis clearly wasn’t impressed with Pickens’ performance.
The Steelers need Pickens to play better if they want to win games. They’re thin at receiver as is, and he’s supposed to be their top guy. He finished tied for second on the team in receiving yards with Van Jefferson, both behind Najee Harris, who led the team with 35. If Pickens isn’t playing well, it’s just going to make things more difficult for their passing game, and Justin Fields threw for just 131 yards today. It was an ugly offensive performance, and it’s one of the biggest reasons why the Steelers lost.
If the Steelers aren’t going to be able to get Pickens going, it’s going to make for a long season offensively, and after a win, it’s no surprise that Lewis wants to chirp after the Cowboys limited him the way they did.
