It was etched into George Pickens' eyeblack, clear enough to be read by the head coach who'd pampered him for a couple years now, by the coordinator who'd put together a scheme based primarily around him and, not to be forgotten, by the quarterback who'd been rebuilding his own brand by flinging footballs his way all summer:
'ALWAYS F---ING OPEN'
There it was ...
NBC
... for everyone to see, from Mike Tomlin to Arthur Smith to Justin Fields to all the rest of his offensive huddle, to a national TV audience on NBC and, by extension, to the 67,380 in attendance at Acrisure Stadium.
What a clown. What a joke.
Only the joke, by 12:58 a.m. Monday, when a storm delay finally allowed the Steelers to fall a play short of the Cowboys, 20-17, at Acrisure Stadium, would be on Pickens after yet another petulant, pouting and at times pathetic performance in catching three of his team-high seven targets for 26 yards.
Because this time, they'd bite back.
____________________
But first ...
— DK Pittsburgh Sports (@DKPSmedia) October 7, 2024
Always f---ing open, huh?
Tell it to the Cowboys' nickelback, Jourdan Lewis. All over Pickens. And this despite Fields scrambling out to his left to buy extra time, and still throwing across his body for a strike.
And second ...
— DK Pittsburgh Sports (@DKPSmedia) October 7, 2024
Right through his always f---ing open hands.
That cost the Steelers a first down inside the Dallas 40 and, undoubtedly, points they'd have grafted onto a 10-6 lead, as opposed to the punt that ensued.
And last but also very much least ...
— DK Pittsburgh Sports (@DKPSmedia) October 7, 2024
Most unfortunately, this was a classic case of the TV shot not telling even a fraction of the tale, since the cameras don't stay on Pickens jogging -- and I mean jogging -- on the lateral portion of that route, making it appear that Fields overthrew. Trust me from the press box perspective and, far more important, from his own teammates' perspective, that wasn't it at all.
One veteran on offense told me it was a "perfect ball," adding that its placement just in bounds was precisely where the receiver would've been had he bothered running.
Sounds like a problem, I responded to this veteran. At which point a series of invectives were spat out regarding Pickens, and I'll keep all the rest between us.
They're mad. And it sure didn't take any additional digging to detect that.
For one, Tomlin and Smith whacked Pickens' playing time to be, strikingly, less than that of the two far lesser wide receivers:
• Van Jefferson: 47 of 58 snaps
• Calvin Austin: 44 of 58 snaps
• Pickens: 34 of 58 snaps
So pay no heed when Tomlin, laughably, attempted to deny the relevance of this in saying, "We just wanted to minimize his reps in an effort to get more productivity. We're just trying to manage in terms of the totality of the big picture. He wasn't less of a focal point in terms of our intensions of what we wanted to do offensively, but we did want to cut his reps a little bit in an effort to get higher quality play, just in general."
As in, this Jefferson drop on another of Fields' prettiest passes?
— DK Pittsburgh Sports (@DKPSmedia) October 7, 2024
Or Austin being engulfed, black-hole-style, for the billionth time?
— DK Pittsburgh Sports (@DKPSmedia) October 7, 2024
Please.
Tomlin was then asked if he wasn't seeing the quality from Pickens that he'd like, and he replied, "It's not different than when we minimize some of the snaps of D-linemen like Cam Heyward. It's just about snap management. There's no underlying story, to be quite honest with you."
The same Cam who, at age 35 and at an infinitely more grueling position, logged 21 more snaps than Pickens?
As I'm often advising when it comes to management of a professional sports operation, don't listen to what they say ... watch what they do. What they did was keep the roster's only NFL-caliber receiver on the sideline for nearly half of all plays called.
For another, even when speaking on the record, players had a hard time holding back what, to my ears, were unmistakable anti-endorsements of Pickens' effort.
When Fields was asked why it was difficult to Pickens more involved in the offense, he initially credited the Cowboys' Trevon Diggs, saying, "Yeah, 7, Trevon, he traveled with GP a little bit. He's a good corner, but GP's also is a good receiver. He just didn't get as involved as he usually does today, so, yeah."
Didn't get as "involved?" How else to interpret that?
Pat Freiermuth didn't bother with phantom phrasing when asked how he felt about his own, very real lack of targets -- total of three, none in the first half -- and he turned that into this: “I trust the coaching staff with what they’re doing. Everyone can bitch and complain about getting a lack of targets, but it’s the stuff you do without the ball. That’s what leaders do. That’s what good teammates do. I play my ass off regardless. The targets are going to find me as long as I’m doing my job. Whatever’s asked of me to do, I’m going to go out there and do it the best I can.”
Oh.
Questions, anyone?
Not for Pickens, of course. He left the locker room soon after it opened to reporters. Though I can't know if that was to flee us or his teammates.
____________________
Look, I'm not here to bury Pickens, I swear. I took a liking to the kid upon arrival, and I did so fully aware that his immaturity often takes center stage, on the field and in life. I've liked his competitive spirit at times, and I've done nothing less than love all that talent. I supported the draft pick, and I've supported the extra measures taken to instill both discipline and consistency into his game.
Put bluntly, he's worth the headaches.
Within limits.
But slumping his shoulders and staring toward the sideline every time a pass goes anywhere else ... that's got about as much place in the game as whatever this garbage was at game's end:
#Steelers WR George Pickens with a vicious grab of #Cowboys CB Jourdan Lewis’ facemask 👀 pic.twitter.com/xvLhuWc64n
— Jordan Sigler (@JordanSig) October 7, 2024
I don't care that Lewis instigated it. I care that it's how losers lose.
It's two losses in a row now, and I'm not singularly blaming Pickens any more than I singularly blamed Najee Harris in focusing on him last week from Indianapolis. The lousiest part of these losses is that they've exposed more problems than maybe anyone had anticipated through the 3-0 start and, in this one alone, I hated Smith's plan of throwing to everyone other than Freiermuth, I hated the line play, I (again) hated Harris' running, I hated all the penalties in all phases, and I really hated the defense getting gashed on the ground in the fourth quarter.
Put it this way: The other guys turned the ball over three times, committed 11 penalties and had a field goal blocked. And the Steelers still lost. So yeah, a lot else went wrong.
And yet, this team can't function without a prolific Pickens. It just can't.
So, where he's concerned, beginning mid-afternoon Monday, it'll be right back to the standard we-love-George stuff and, for all we know, that might actually be the only approach that has a prayer of connecting. I won't begrudge anyone for trying. He's just too important.
But here's another, related idea: Maybe lessen his importance.
I mean, call me crazy amid the broader fandom's still-lingering Omar Khan honeymoon, but how does a GM escape seemingly uncriticized when he's still sitting on $10,537,226 in estimated cap space while his current WR2, Jefferson, was signed as a free agent for one year at a whopping $1,292,500. That's not OK. And it never was.
Pickens needs to get back on the figurative bike, and Khan needs to get back on the horn. I hear there's a guy in Las Vegas. Can just meet him out there next weekend with fresh laundry.
• Chris Halicke's Chalk Talk breaks down the offense's continuing breakdowns.
• Greg Macafee's Spotlight shines on Beanie Bishop's bungling.
• Much more from all three of us in our Steelers Feed.
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