With George Pickens in the lineup, the Pittsburgh Steelers are 9-3. Without him, they are 1-2. That is why it’s of the utmost importance that he can make it back for a Christmas miracle against the Kansas City Chiefs. The AFC North title and a home playoff game are on the line, and one insider thinks he will play Wednesday.
“I think he will, but I don’t want to see him out there if he’s on a pitch count,” Mark Kaboly said via 93.7 The Fan’s Morning Show. “I’m sure if he does come back, he will be on some sort of a count. I don’t know how much that helps offensively. I guess it will to a degree.
“Everything I’ve seen from him the past week or so, it looked like he was ready to go last week. Just some of the things, some of the movements he’s making even behind the scenes — jumping up and trying to touch ceilings and stuff like that. Something you wouldn’t think a guy with a significant hamstring injury would be doing. I would think that they would give him a shot, but if he is, I just wish it would be a full go.”
From the various video clips from practice last week, Pickens appeared to be running at about 60-percent speed toward the end of the week. He was listed as a non-participant all three practice days, but he was clearly ramping up his work on the side. Then on Sunday, he was listed as a limited participant for the first time since the injury happened.
According to Dr. Melanie Friedlander’s expert medical opinion, as well as some prior research from the team doctor, a Grade 2 hamstring injury typically results in between 1.32 and 2.16 games missed. It’s skewed a bit by the Steelers’ streak of three games in 11 days, but Pickens is well beyond the normal length of time to make his return from that type of injury. By the time they kick off Wednesday’s game, Pickens will be one day short of three full weeks since the injury occurred.
That being said, we have all seen how important Pickens is to the team at this point. The offense looks completely different without him. Mike Tomlin and the medical staff have been playing it extra safe this year to prevent small issues from becoming large ones. The quick turnaround this week means very little time to properly test his hamstring. That could be the only thing that holds Pickens back if he is unable to play against the Chiefs.
If George Pickens returns, Kaboly suggests he could be on a pitch count and says he likely wouldn’t be playing more than 50 percent of the snaps. As long as the medical staff is okay with that, assuming no risk of reinjury, then I don’t see why they wouldn’t ease him back into the lineup. If the Steelers lose and the Baltimore Ravens beat the Houston Texans later on Christmas Day, the Steelers will no longer control their own destiny for the division title.
ESPN’s insider Adam Schefter also thinks Pickens has a realistic chance of playing, for what it’s worth.
“It sounds like they will get some of those parts back, most notably George Pickens,” Schefter said Monday on The Pat McAfee Show. “It sounds like they have a realistic sense that he has a chance to be back.”
The fact that Pickens was listed as limited on the Sunday estimated practice report as opposed to Justin Fields, who was a non-participant, is telling to me. That shows that the Steelers fully intend on giving Pickens every chance of playing on Wednesday.
