Mike Tomlin's latest comments add to the growing conspiracy theory surrounding Steelers WR George Pickens
Anyone that watches Pittsburgh Steelers football knows that WR George Pickens has the potential to be one of the best WRs in the league. But for the third year in a row, questions have arisen surrounding his football character, an issue that was on full display in Sunday's loss against the Dallas Cowboys. Well, Coach […]
Anyone that watches Pittsburgh Steelers football knows that WR George Pickens has the potential to be one of the best WRs in the league.
But for the third year in a row, questions have arisen surrounding his football character, an issue that was on full display in Sunday's loss against the Dallas Cowboys.
Well, Coach Tomlin's reasoning for Pickens' lower snap count against Dallas didn't make much sense after the game, and he only added to the head scratching reasoning during his weekly presser on Tuesday:
George Pickens being "load managed," behavior being handled internally
"Again, I don't know what messaging you're talking about regarding his eye black, said Coach Tomlin when asked about the phase "Open F***ING Always," being on Pickens' face against the Cowboys. "I didn't have any outlying issue with his effort. As I mentioned after the game, I think someone asked about a reduction in his total number of snaps, that's just a snap management thing in an effort to be more productive. In today's game, regarding analytics, we do it across a lot of positions, particularly when you look at the totality of a 17 game schedule. I'd imagine Cam Heyward, for example, is playing less snaps than he has. Just trying to grow and trying to get optimum productivity among some individuals, and going about the best means of doing so. And so, that's probably a reflection of the snap totality of last week."
Here's the thing, load management is 100% acceptable for a 35-year-old defensive lineman who heads the deepest position group on the team. What's not acceptable is to see Pickens, who is 23 and the only viable WR on the perimeter see his snaps drop nearly 30%.
"It's certainly things that I'm open to addressing and will and do, said Coach Tomlin when asked about Pickens' behavior, including the eyeblack and facemask on Jourdan Lewis. "I just don't detail them in settings like this, because it's business between he and I in terms of his growth and development as a player and as a man. I just don't think it aids growth and development to address it in open settings such as this. Regarding his behavior, I am aware of that, and obviously that has been and will continue to be addressed. I wasn't aware of the messaging and so, you know, I'm just giving you a knee jerk response to that."
It's clear that Pickens is at a crossroads in his career. Either he buttons himself up, and puts up the numbers he's capable of, or he is bound to join a long list of WRs whose charter issues started to outweigh their production in Pittsburgh, leading to a separation.
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