Pickens a 'work in progress,' his growth a 'continual' process for Tomlin

It is 100 percent understandable that what George Pickens said Tuesday is rubbing everybody the wrong way.

His lack of effort to block for a potential Jaylen Warren touchdown run Saturday against the Colts is concerning on multiple fronts. It showed he didn't care to perform his job in the moment. It showed he was uninterested in helping for a cause that was not directly caused by him. It showed there was a greater interest on his mind than that of the one right in his presence.

And, he said that as much Tuesday, when he claimed his lack of effort on that play was because he didn't want to have another Tank Dell situation happen, in reference to the Texans receiver getting his fibula rolled up on while blocking near the goal line in the beginning of December, which ended his season.

"I was just trying to prevent the Tank Dell situation," Pickens said. "Same thing that happened to Tank Dell. I didn't want to get injured. If you stay in and block somebody you can get run up on very easily."

Here is the play from two different angles, for reference:

Pickens' lack of effort from Saturday isn't enough to get him benched, as Mike Tomlin said after Wednesday's practice Pickens will play this Saturday against the Bengals. He added that any disciplinary measures for Pickens would not be discussed publicly.

Tomlin leaned on Pickens' "talents" being needed on the field as the reasoning for him playing this Saturday, though he acknowledged that Pickens' growth is very much a work-in-progress in a long-term perspective.

"It's not going to be one incident or one meeting or one form of discipline that's going to institute the type of change that we're hunting, to be quite honest with you," Tomlin said after Wednesday's practice. "It is going to be continual. He is aware of that. We meet on a routine basis. We met last Wednesday, he and I, we met again today. And so just wanted to be clear in some of those things.

"I would like him to be more professional in terms of addressing some of his shortcomings with (reporters) in order to further add fluidity to the process. He's not helping himself, he's not helping the process in the manner in which he has dealt with you guys. But the manner in which he deals with you guys is not necessarily the manner in which he deals with us or himself regarding acknowledging where he is or where he needs to go.

"Largely I like to keep his growth and development and the things regarding his growth and development private, to be quite honest with you, talking about it in this setting. Doesn't aid in the process or speed up the process, but rest assured there's a commitment here, not only from us, but from him in terms of growing as a man and a player."

Pickens' action on that play is unacceptable on multiple fronts. It's a 22-year-old not realizing the greater good that his effort -- any of it -- could bring. It is a lack of analyzing the big picture.

The big picture is what veteran Allen Robinson and interim offensive coordinator Eddie Faulkner are trying to open Pickens' eyes to.

"That's something that he has to compartmentalize and understand in that situations, regardless in the league, you've got to put the efforts out there to create winning habits," Robinson said before Wednesday's practice. "I think regardless for younger players it may take some time to understand that or see that. Him being able to see that and how certain efforts on the field, how those can kind of be game-changing situations, whether it be a touchdown or a tackle at the one (yard line), or so on and so forth. Luckily we were able to score on that drive, but continuing to help him understand and compartmentalize the big picture of the team efforts."

That play wasn't the only one from Pickens where effort was minimally questionable. This jump ball from Mitch Trubisky could have been caught by Pickens. But, he mistimed his jump and allowed for Nick Cross to pull the ball from over the top of him. Trubisky would later categorize this as Pickens taking "a different angle than I was anticipating" to the ball.

Then there was this Trubisky interception in the fourth quarter, which sailed over Pickens' head. Notice how and where Pickens runs to as the Colts' Julian Blackmon cuts upfield:

Warren spoke of the rushing play Wednesday. If he were in Pickens' shoes, he said he would have thrown a block for his running back.

"I see where he's coming from," Warren told Ray Fittipaldo of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. "It is what it is. At the end of the day he was doing what he thought was best for them. ... Some people play the game differently. If I was in that position I would have blocked for him. But, we play differently, so ..."

Faulkner said the blocking play has been addressed internally, and Pickens is a "young guy that's got to continue to learn how to be a professional."

"We have to go out there and execute every play to the highest level. Every player. That's the expectation," Faulkner said. "The second part of that would be, how do you handle that is, you address it, you present it to the group, you make sure that it's called out amongst the guys and they understand where your stance is and then you move on from that. And being here with George every day, I know that he's a guy that loves it. He loves ball. He works at it. He wants to be good. That's where you find your peace in knowing that there's -- you can bring him along in that regard because he loves ball. That's the approach."

But, is that message getting to him?

"You keep hammering away at it. That's our job, and that's what we'll do," Faulkner said.

Tomlin reassured that this kind of thing "comes with the job," and that Pickens is handling things "good" on the day-to-day in a practice setting.

"Let's be honest, the process at times is challenging because of them, because their talents are a blessing and a curse," Tomlin said. "Some people hate them for no reason. Some people give them everything they ask for for no reason. We're just trying to give him truth and have a commitment in terms of working with him day-to-day and knowing that maturation and growth is a process. It's not one meeting, it's not one incident, it's not one form of discipline. It's a process."