George Pickens has had an up-and-down season so far this year. He hasn’t always been dominant, but at his best, he’s completely taken over games. The Steelers’ Week 7 contest against the New York Jets is a great example of that. Pickens put up five catches for 111 yards and a touchdown. He also drew a huge pass-interference call against Jets corner Sauce Gardner. Almost three weeks later, it sounds like Gardner is still upset about that call.
“George Pickens, he’s running around, he pushes off [a lot],” Gardner said recently on Richard Sherman’s podcast. “I talked to that ref before the game. I don’t know his name. I’m like, ‘Ref, just know, this is going to be a physical matchup. He likes pushing off. Ref says he watches film too. ‘I know he’s a huge push off guy. We’re going to let y’all play.'”
It’s interesting to hear the referee say he knows Pickens pushes off a lot. That makes it seem like that’s a penalty the officials are closely monitoring with Pickens. However, it’s only been called on him once this year. That came in the season opener, and it was a highly disputed call. Maybe Pickens does push off sometimes, but that play in particular didn’t look like it warranted a flag.
Either way, it sounds like Gardner wanted the officials to just let he and Pickens battle it out. That’s honestly a fair request. Gardner was likely planning on being a little handsy with Pickens, while also understanding Pickens was going to be physical with him. They’re both big-bodied players, so it makes sense that their battle would be physical.
In reality, that referee either forgot he said that or changed his mind because Gardner was flagged for pass interference near the end of the first half.
“Pickens pushing on me, I’m looking back for the ball on a go [route]. I’m not disrupting him at all. After the play, he called the PI,” Gardner said. “I’m like, ref, what did I do? ‘You were pulling him. You were stopping him.’ I said, ‘I did not pull him at all. Not even a little bit.’
“I literally was chest to chest, and I was running like vertical. I wasn’t even leaning on him. I looked through him, then I turned at the last minute, hit the ball, PI.”
That play was game-changing. To that point, the Steelers hadn’t gotten anything done on offense. They were losing 15-6, and it looked like they were in for a long day. However, that play gave them a free 29 yards, setting them up to score their first touchdown of the game right before the half ended.
The Steelers took all the momentum after that and proceed to thrash the Jets, 37-15. When looking at the play, t’s tough to say Gardner didn’t do anything wrong. There is a lot of hand fighting going on, but Gardner is all over Pickens.
What probably really got him was that his arm was wrapped around Pickens’ chest. He wasn’t necessarily grabbing anything, but he was wrapped around him enough to probably warrant a call.
It’s a tough call, and it’s easy to see why Gardner is frustrated if the officials did tell him they’d let some physicality slide. However, he has to know that referees are forced to make split-second decisions. Players are moving incredibly fast, and officials have a tough job. That’s no excuse, but sometimes, they’ll make calls even if it’s close.
That play may have hurt, but there were other reasons the Jets lost. Officials can be frustrating, that’s true. It’s not often that one call decides the outcome of a game though. The Jets still had the lead going into halftime. The Steelers were just the better team that day.
