As if some of his on-field antics late in the game weren’t enough with him displaying visible frustration with some of the struggles of the Pittsburgh Steelers’ offense, wide receiver George Pickens inserted himself into additional controversy after a 29-10 loss to the Kansas City Chiefs on Christmas Day.
After making three receptions for 50 yards, including a huge 41-yarder in the first half on a great throw from Russell Wilson, Pickens went up to Chiefs TE Travis Kelce and QB Patrick Mahomes during a live interview on Netflix to dap them up. Pickens was heard saying, “You’re the best in the world” to Mahomes, which isn’t something that’s all that surprising. He is.
But it was the timing from Pickens and doing so on live TV in the middle of an interview that has Pickens hearing some criticism again, especially from the likes of Pro Football Talk’s Mike Florio and Chris Simms.
Here’s that moment from Pickens with Kelce and Mahomes.
Florio believes the moment with Kelce and Mahomes had significant subtext after Pickens was frustrated during the game and has had issues in his first three seasons in Pittsburgh.
“My thought was, he’s saying ‘Come get me.’ I mean, I feel like Pickens has been at that point of ‘I’ve had enough here’ for a while now. It flashes from time to time,” Florio said of Pickens’ moment with the two Chiefs stars, according to video via the show’s YouTube page. “He has visions of what he could do in an offense with a higher end passing game, an offense that throws the ball more than the Steelers do. And they’ve had a hard time. Think of all the guys who have been problematic at the receiver position that Mike Tomlin has kept it under wraps until either the very end or after they’re gone. With Pickens, it’s been fairly constant the past couple of seasons. But he’s so good that you keep finding a way to try to get the most out of him.
“In that moment yesterday, that made me think that this off season after he has three seasons in, he’s eligible for second contract. What are they gonna do at quarterback next year? There’s just a lot of factors that come into that. But I’m starting to think that, who knows, who knows? Maybe it’s reaching the end of the road for the Steelers and George Pickens.”
That’s a lot to read into based off a quick dap-up with two opposing players after a blowout loss, but there might be something there beneath the surface as to what Florio is getting at.
Maybe Pickens didn’t know they were live. Maybe he did, and it was a calculated display, inserting himself and going viral. After all, that moment came right after a fourth quarter in which Pickens was teetering on the brink of an explosion. He ripped his helmet off twice on the field in frustration, and following a false start penalty after rookie center Zach Frazier didn’t snap the ball, Pickens turned to the Steelers’ sideline and screamed.
The Chiefs game was Pickens’ first one after missing three with a hamstring injury. His impact was felt right away as he had a big 41-yard catch down the Steelers’ sideline, flashing late hands against Chiefs corner Trent McDuffie to catch the dime from Russell Wilson.
But after that, Pickens was quiet, though he did have an 18-yard catch wiped out due to an offensive offsides penalty on Steelers TE Connor Heyward. He also is under fire for not running his route on Wilson’s red-zone interception, where Wilson thought Pickens was going to draw Chiefs safety Justin Reid out of the middle of the field, opening things up for TE Pat Freiermuth.
That didn’t happen, and it led to a bad interception.
Couple that with the in-game antics and then the moment after the Steelers dropped to 10-6, and Simms has all but had enough with the young receiver.
“Listen, he’s a really good player. I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s the other way around too, where the other, the team and Mike Tomlin is like, ‘Oh, the hell with it. I’ve had enough. Bon voyage.’ The antics are getting old,” Simms said of Pickens. “I am one that, you know, I like personality on the field. I don’t mind a jerk on the field. He crosses that line for me. He’s a little exhausting. He’s a little, me, me, me. He should have been penalized for taking his helmet off on the one play in the middle because he was mad about false starting, and the penalty was him and somebody else.
“But yeah, I mean, it’s constant with him. And like I talked about, I mean, hey, even on the interception with Russell Wilson down the middle, that was bull crap with how he took off the ball and tried to attack down the field.”
It was a bad look from Pickens, especially after in-game commentator Nate Burleson, a former NFL WR in his own right, correctly called out that Pickens was supposed to run a go route on the interception and simply didn’t, instead coming off the ball slowly and stopping after five yards to turn and look for the ball.
Even Hall of Fame WR Terrell Owens called Pickens out on social media.
It’s all a mess right now, which is expected after a third straight loss and the fashion in which the Steelers have lost. Pickens didn’t help himself, though, even if some of the in-game frustration was justified.
