After the Pittsburgh Steelers lost 24-19 to the Cleveland Browns in Week 12, WR George Pickens made headlines by saying that the Browns aren’t a good team and benefitted from the snowy and windy game conditions. Speaking at his weekly press conference, Mike Tomlin gave as close to a “no comment” as you’ll get about Pickens’ take after the Steelers’ third loss of the season.
“I’m not gonna add color to people’s comments. Their comments and thoughts and feelings are their own. I don’t want them to be robots. I don’t tell them what to think or say. And so, I’ve just learned over the years, man, not to add color to what people say or their comments. Those are their comments and thoughts and so if you want additional information or perspective on it, ask them,” Tomlin said Tuesday via the team’s YouTube channel.
Pickens’ comments were just stupid after a loss, and complaining about the weather is a poor excuse for why Pittsburgh wasn’t able to win. It’s a good answer by Tomlin, not publicly condemning Pickens while also obviously not agreeing or giving any sort of opinion on what he said.
If Tomlin had an issue with Pickens’ comments, it’s something that should be handled internally, and publicly calling him out wouldn’t do any good. While the Steelers are coming off a bad loss, they’re still 8-3 and competing for the top spot in the AFC playoffs while holding the AFC North division lead, and Pickens is going to need to be a key piece for Pittsburgh down the stretch. While his maturity has been a question mark and this wasn’t even the first instance this season of Pickens becoming the story for his in-game actions, making him look bad in the media would only cause issues for Tomlin and within Pittsburgh’s locker room.
Reporters will surely ask Pickens for a follow-up the next time he speaks to the media, and it is his responsibility to answer for them publicly, not his head coach’s. While it was another case of Pickens being immature, it will all be a non-story in a week if he responds well and helps the Steelers get the win over the Bengals in Week 13. Tomlin further stoking the flames would just wind up being more of a distraction.
While Pickens’ actions against the Browns, which included a fight after the final play of the game, could remain in the mind of the Steelers’ brass as they think about giving him a contract extension, the team is doing the right thing by not publicly making it a bigger issue and moving on from it.
