Once again, the Pittsburgh Steelers are dealing with negative attention due to George Pickens.
Though head coach Mike Tomlin stated that the limited snaps in Week 5 against the Dallas Cowboys that saw Pickens play a career-low 59% of the snaps in the 20-17 loss was simply due to managing reps in an effort to get a better performance out of the third-year wide receiver, the reasoning rang hollow.
On tape, Pickens appeared at times to be lackadaisical, and had a key drop in the game. On top of all that, Pickens had a curious message on his eye black in the primetime matchup and at the end of the game dragged Cowboys cornerback Jourdan Lewis to the ground by his facemask, sparking a minor dust-up.
The questions about effort, the eye black and the behavior at the end of the game were in abundance to Tomlin Tuesday during his weekly press conference, one in which he seemingly tiptoed around the Pickens stuff in an effort to not bash him publicly while also seemingly toeing the line of a strong message but being fair to the player.
For the Post-Gazette’s Ray Fittipaldo, he believes Tomlin tiptoeing around the Pickens situation is because he is trying to avoid a blowup like the one Antonio Brown had in 2018 that ultimately caused him to force his way out of Pittsburgh.
“I think Mike feels like he’s tiptoeing around a situation that might explode here. I think with Diontae [Johnson], for all Diontae’s warts, I think deep down, he was a decent guy. He could take criticism, and he could work through that with teammates. I don’t think George is capable of doing that,” Fittipaldo said, according to 93.7 The Fan. “So, I just think this is more like an Antonio Brown situation like 2018.
“You don’t want the whole thing to blow up in your face. And I think that’s why Mike has probably taken a little bit different tact here.”
The Pickens situation certainly feels like a powder keg right now. That is rather puzzling considering he’s the Steelers’ No. 1 weapon offensively, is seeing nearly 30% of the targets within the passing game and has made numerous big plays this season.
Something changed on Sunday night against the Cowboys though. The Cowboys did a nice job of taking Pickens away for the most part, limiting him to just three receptions for 26 yards. He did have a key drop in the second half on a third down that forced a punt, even drawing the ire of Tomlin, who was seen on the All-22 tape throwing his hands up after the drop.
But the message across the eye black, the body language on the sideline, the behavior at the end of the game, it was all unnecessary and showed that Pickens hasn’t exactly matured like many within the organization had hoped coming into his third NFL season.
He’s still just 23 years old, but if he’s being compared to Antonio Brown when it comes to attitude and a potential blowup, that’s never a good sign. He’s had issues each year he’s been with the Steelers, and right now it’s hard to see it ever stopping.
Maybe that’s why Tomlin gave a puzzling response to the limited snaps against the Cowboys, and why he tiptoed around the behavior and attitude issues, stating he’s keeping that all in house. During his career, Tomlin has been a master motivator and ego manager.
It appears he has to do the same thing here with Pickens, hoping to avoid a catastrophic blowup.
