The Pittsburgh Steelers exploded on offense against the Cincinnati Bengals on Sunday in their 44-38 win. And WR George Pickens had three catches for 74 yards and one touchdown.
But Pickens was in the headlines for more than just big yardage and a touchdown. He wiped out 30 of his yards with two unsportsmanlike conduct penalties. Head coach Mike Tomlin was not thrilled with Pickens, saying that Pickens needs to mature quickly.
It’s nothing new with Pickens, unfortunately. He could have two highlight reels, one of his insane contested catches and one of his troubles.
“Pickens is now the heir apparent to every sort of diva wide receiver cliche that’s ever been,” Sam Monson said Monday on Check The Mic’s Week 13 recap show. “He’s the guy now. He’s just a lunatic at this point, You are their best receiving option. You’re also a wild loose cannon that’s giving back 15 yards almost as often as you’re gaining them with big plays. How long can you deal with that before you’re like this is more hassle than it’s worth? It’s not, to be clear. He is worth more than the hassle along with it. But the hassle is a significant negative that keeps popping up.”
This is all less than a week after former Steelers front office executive Doug Whaley predicted Pickens’ time in Pittsburgh coming to a bitter end. It’s frustrating considering how productive Pickens has been since the Steelers drafted him in 2022. In 46 career regular-season games, he has 170 receptions for 2,791 yards, and 12 touchdowns. He’s putting up 16.4 yards per catch. He’s a big-play threat with an unreal ability to turn 50-50 balls into almost sure catches.
But as Pickens showed on Sunday, he has an uncanny ability to make head-scratching and frustrating plays. After the big 38-yard completion from QB Russell Wilson down the right sideline, Pickens made a gesture toward the crowd that looked like he was pointing a gun. He said after the game that it was a signal for a first down, but the officials disagreed.
We also saw a significant issue crop up in 2023. Pickens failed to show much effort blocking for RB Jaylen Warren against the Indianapolis Colts inside the red zone. That came during the Steelers’ three-game losing streak that nearly cost them a playoff spot.
Hopefully for Pickens and the Steelers, he rebounds from Sunday’s chaos like he did from that Colts game. The very next week, with people calling for Tomlin to bench Pickens, he had four catches for 175 yards and two touchdowns against the Bengals. He would certainly cause a lot of this concern and anger to disappear if he does something akin to that performance against the Cleveland Browns next week.
