With the Pittsburgh Steelers having lost three straight games to slip to 7-7, things have gotten testy on the banks of Three Rivers. Head coach Mike Tomlin is trying to right the ship in hopes of leading the team to the playoffs, and extend his NFL-record 16 consecutive non-losing seasons to begin a coaching career. One of Tomlin’s biggest headaches this season has been the continued immaturity of second-year wide receiver George Pickens.
The mercurial Pickens was a first-round talent coming out of Georgia, but maturity concerns that had him slip to the second are showing why that happened. Pickens has come under fire this week for comments made he made about not blocking on a running play, as he said he didn’t wanna get injured. What a lame excuse for not blocking, and, unfortunately, that’s been his MO. When he isn’t getting the football he completely checks out in other areas of the game.
That type of effort has drawn the ire of Tomlin and many others. In fact a pretty perturbed Tomlin expressed his frustration with Pickens in his Wednesday media session.
Tomlin Says Keep Your Damn Mouth Shut
In an attempt to get Pickens’ attention, the usually calm and collected Tomlin heeded words of advice to his talented pass-catcher, who seems to be doing all he can to get shipped out of Pittsburgh.
“George is a talented guy, but he’s growing and growing in a lot of ways in regard to football and life,” Tomlin began. “We don’t run away from that. We run to that organizationally when we draft guys. We’re committed to being a component of their growth and development in all areas.”
Strong words from Tomlin, who seems to be growing tired of addressing Pickens immaturity. In the same breath the legendary Steelers coach also said it’s best if he just kept quiet.
“When you’re winning and doing your jobs, a lot of the attention is on things such as that,” Tomlin said. “When you’re not doing your job and losing, you better keep your d— mouth shut and understand that that tracks a certain type of attention, as well. And usually that’s vulture-like attention.”
Pickens is just the latest in Steelers receivers to consistently show a lack maturity. He follows the likes of Antonio Brown, JuJu Smith-Schuster, Chase Claypool, and Martavis Bryant. The big difference between Pickens and those aforementioned pass catchers is all of them were much more accomplished, and while they should’ve laid low as well, they had much more of a right to talk than Pickens does.
Pickens Has Been Solid In Year Two, Not Great
After a solid rookie season Pickens was expected to take a huge jump in year two. His numbers — 52 receptions for 814 yards and three touchdowns — are pretty much identical to last season with three games left. But Tomlin, and even Pickens, expected much more, and while the quarterback situation hasn’t helped — and the midseason change at offensive coordinator didn’t help either — Pickens’ immaturity hasn’t helped matters either.
Despite Pickens antics and criticizing others for his lack of effort, the Steelers need him, and, according to Tomlin, he’ll be in the starting lineup come this weekend’s huge matchup versus the Cincinnati Bengals.
