When addressing WR George Pickens and his meager playing time against the Cowboys, Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin provided one of his all-time great nonsense answers. After Pickens played just 34 of 57 potential snaps, Tomlin said the Steelers were managing the third-year veteran’s reps for efficiency.
But why would your clear and obvious No. 1 WR see the lowest percentage of snaps in his entire career in a random game like this—one in which the Steelers frequently trailed? Tomlin found plenty of snaps for Van Jefferson and Calvin Austin III, so why not Pickens?
“We just wanted to minimize [Pickens’] reps in an effort to get more productivity”, Tomlin said in his postgame press conference, via the Steelers’ website. I will note that Pickens had just three catches for 26 yards, so, so much for productivity.
“We’re just trying to rep manage in terms of the totality of the big picture. He wasn’t less of a focal point in terms of our intentions of what we wanted to do offensively”, Tomlin added of Pickens. “But we did want to cut his reps a little bit in an effort to get higher-quality play”.
There are times that a No. 1 WR may come off the field. But there is no context in which it makes football sense for Tomlin to take George Pickens off this offense. Antonio Brown occasionally came off for Darrius Heyward-Bey in 13 and 22 personnel because the latter could run block. But Pickens is supposed to be the Steelers’ best blocking wide receiver, isn’t he?
And let me reiterate this point. On Sunday, George Pickens played the lowest percentage of offensive snaps in an NFL game in his Steelers career. He logged just under 60 percent of the snaps, the first time he has ever played that infrequently under Tomlin. The Steelers played him for 45 snaps, or 71 percent, in his first career game.
“It’s no different than [when] we minimize some of the snaps of d-linemen like Cam Heyward and so forth”, Tomlin tried to explain about the Steelers suddenly “managing” the reps they give George Pickens. “It’s just about snap management. It’s no underlying story to be quite honest with you”.
Tomlin continuing to say that there is no underlying story helps to make it one. Why are the Steelers “managing” Pickens’ reps to the point where we’re watching defenders toss Austin around?
It feels like a story when a team has to keep its top receiver off the field for significant snaps in the hopes that he will give it some quality snaps when he does play. This is not the same thing as rotating defensive linemen. It is close to rotating offensive linemen, which unfortunately Tomlin is fine with, too.
Surely it has nothing to do with George Pickens growing increasingly frustrated. The only time he saw more than seven targets in a game so far this season, they lost. Even when he made big plays, they sometimes didn’t count. It’s more plausible that Tomlin didn’t like his “OPEN FUCKING ALWAYS” eye black than that they worried about his rep quality due to overload. And if they are worried about his rep quality due to overload, that’s another concerning story in its own right.
