Pittsburgh Steelers WR George Pickens failed to play on Sunday against the Cleveland Browns, and his status for next week is unclear. What is clear is what he means to this team, even when he isn’t on the field. While the Steelers managed to produce 27 points without him, they felt his absence between the lines. That doesn’t mean that he was absent from the sideline —quite the opposite, actually.
According to his teammates, Pickens was active and engaged with them. WR Scotty Miller told Mark Kaboly that he was giving them tips and cheering them on. He noted that Pickens ran down to celebrate with Van Jefferson after his touchdown.
“He was trying to help us out and giving us the confidence,” Miller said about Pickens, via Kaboly. “We know that he believes in us. He was on the sidelines helping us run a slant against Denzel Ward because it is stuff that he has done before”.
Denzel Ward is the Browns’ top cornerback and typically draws the assignment to cover George Pickens. Because Pickens didn’t play, of course, he was free to engage in other matchups. Thanks to his familiarity lining up against Ward, Pickens was able to help his fellow receivers.
According to Pro Football Focus, however, the Steelers never targeted Ward as the primary defender on any of their throws. Instead, they heavily peppered Martin Emerson Jr., who faced eight targets and allowed four receptions. That included a couple of plays on which George Pickens likely would have been the target, namely Scotty Miller’s 21-yard grab and the 22-yarder hauled in by Mike Williams.
Through 12 games, Pickens has 55 receptions for 850 yards and three touchdowns. He still has four games left to make up ground that he lost after missing Sunday’s game. However, we won’t know until the end of the week how he is looking for the game against the Eagles.
Even if he doesn’t play, it sounds as though Pickens will be invested all the same. While the CBS broadcast didn’t highlight any of these teaching moments, it did cut to him for some reaction shots that showed him engaged with the flow of the game and invested in his teammates.
George Pickens popped up at on the injury report late last week because of his hamstring. He was still expected to play on Sunday, however, so his inclusion on the inactive list came as a surprise. It marked his first game missed since entering the NFL in 2022, and hopefully the last of the season.
While Pickens may not be the perfect teammate, it’s clear that his teammates know him better than we do. They see his day-to-day interactions and how he is invested in the success of his team. He faces criticisms of selfishness, and perhaps he is in some respects. But he is a competitor at the end of the day, and he wants to win. If that means helping Mike Williams beat a cornerback with some tips, so be it.
