George Pickens has taken the next step in his career in terms of his production. Paired with a new offensive coordinator in Arthur Smith and a potential Hall of Fame quarterback in Russell Wilson, his stats have taken a nice jump to be among the top receivers in the NFL. But along with that, he’s never had more issues with penalties and immaturity during or after games.
Just last Sunday he had two unsportsmanlike conduct penalties that nearly resulted in an ejection from the game and partially negated two of his explosive receiving plays. The week prior, he got in a scuffle with Cleveland Browns CB Greg Newsome II on the final Hail Mary in which he was supposed to be the point man to make the play in the end zone.
What can he do differently to avoid penalties? Well, he isn’t quite sure.
“I’m out here making plays doing the same celebrations that every other receiver is doing,” Pickens Friday said via a video posted by 93.7 The Fan on X. “So, I’m not sure.”
Pair this with poking the bear by saying he doesn’t even know who Newsome is, and it doesn’t paint the best picture of Pickens.
“When you are playing hard and the league has a target on your back, I’m not saying 100 percent, but you possibly could get flags,” Pickens said per 93.7 The Fan. “I’m just out playing like every other receiver.”
He gave himself a little wiggle room, but he essentially thinks there is a target on his back from the league, deflecting blame to the referees rather than his actions.
It can be argued that he was just signaling or pointing for a first down against the Cincinnati Bengals on the second unsportsmanlike penalty, but it sure looked like he had his hand in the shape of a gun pulling the trigger. Right or wrong, the NFL prohibits that kind of celebration. It’s one thing to have your hand in that shape, but he did the recoil and everything. Maybe he just didn’t know the rule for this one.
The first one was a little more obvious. You can’t be dropping the ball on a defender who is on his back after the play.
Either way, it would have been much easier for Pickens to just admit that he could do better and promise to do so instead of digging his heels in further.
As multiple people have pointed out this week, Pickens has earned a reputation with referees and opposing teams for this type of thing. He isn’t going to get the benefit of the doubt in situations where there are borderline penalties.
I would say this isn’t a positive sign that Pickens will clean things up anytime soon.
