Four days after tempers flared between the Pittsburgh Steelers and Baltimore Ravens, WR George Pickens and Cleveland Browns S Grant Delpit mixed it up Thursday night.
Mid-way through the fourth quarter of the game, Delpit was flagged for unsportsmanlike conduct, snatching and taking away Pickens’ mouth guard that dangled below his helmet. In the moment, it seemed like an uncalled for action by Delpit. But he took to social media to hint at why he did it, showing a clip of Pickens sticking his leg out and attempting to trip Delpit moments before.
Noah Schaefer sent out a tweet of Delpit’s supposed Instagram story showing the All-22 aerial view of what happened after the play, an unsuccessful windback run by RB Cordarrelle Patterson.
The video doesn’t appear to still be on Delpit’s Instagram page but we can pull up the same All-22 clip for ourselves. Right before the footage cuts away, you can see Pickens walk up behind Delpit and Patterson, the former jawing a bit after shedding Pickens’ block and making the tackle. Pickens proceeds to kick his left leg out behind Delpit who trips and stumbles as he walks backwards, though he didn’t fall to the ground.
We’ve slowed down the clip to make it a bit easier to see. The two are standing by the sideline around the 7-8 yard-line.
Here’s another zoomed in look that Dave captured.
It was then that Delpit snatched Pickens’ mouth guard, drawing the penalty. Pickens was not penalized. The yardage wasn’t much, the ball moving forwards 2-yards but it gave the Steelers a first down. RB Jaylen Warren scored the next play, starting Pittsburgh’s temporary comeback.
It wasn’t the only mix-up between Pickens and the Browns’ secondary. On Pittsburgh’s Hail Mary that fell hopelessly incomplete, Browns CB Greg Newsome shoved Pickens through and out of the end zone. Both players had to be separated as security helped diffuse the situation.
In the locker room post-game, Pickens said the snowy weather helped Cleveland and that the Browns aren’t a “good team.”
Thursday’s actions weren’t the first time Pickens and a defensive back mixed things up. At the end of Pittsburgh’s Week 5 loss to the Dallas Cowboys, Pickens tossed down Dallas CB Jourdan Lewis after Lewis jawed him after the final play. Both players were fined for the incident.
While the NFL released fines today, those were for the Week 11 slate of games. The fines for Week 12 won’t come out until next Saturday. We’ll see if Pickens, Delpit, Newsome, and anyone else shows up on the list. Odds are, there will be some lighter wallets.
