Steelers Have A Ticking Time Bomb Ready To Explode
If you’ve been on social media at all the past couple of days, you’ve seen the drama that people have created over Steelers wide receiver George Pickens questionable Instagram stories where he proclaimed “Free me”. Pickens himself posted another story today, basically hinting that it wasn’t football-related. Who knows what’s going on there? Hopefully, everything is okay in the budding star wide receiver's life.
Twitter detectives have also speculated over which Steelers he has unfollowed and refollowed, but the lines get blurred there as many of us don’t know who he followed originally and who he didn't. For all we know, this is a bunch of junk.
What Is Going On With Pickens?
As we all saw on Thursday night, quarterback Kenny Pickett missed Pickens a couple of times on passes that probably should’ve been easy hits. Surely this frustrated the star that is Pickens. We can’t blame Pickens for wanting the ball. The kid is a stud and just wants to be great so badly, it’s tough to fault him on that. He should be getting the ball more. Despite calling his best game as a Steeler on Thursday, Offensive Coordinator Matt Canada and Quarterback Kenny Pickett have to do a better job of getting him the ball. We really can't fault Pickens there.
There are however a few places where there's been some fair criticism of the young wideout. Diontae Johnson scored his first touchdown in two years on Thursday night. 119 receptions between touchdowns. He’s even been on multiple podcasts over the recent months talking about how badly he needed that monkey off his back.
But when Johnson found the endzone, Pickens was nowhere to be found. While the rest of the team and the raucous Acrisure Stadium crowd were going crazy in excitement for Johnson, Pickens was sitting on the bench, his head wrapped up in a Gatorade towel, pouting up a storm. That's unacceptable no matter how you spin it. It's understandable to be upset about how the night was going for him, but the way he acted there was childish.
Diontae Johnson has been nothing but a good big bro for Pickens to lean on since getting to Pittsburgh, and for Pickens to act like that at the moment was very odd to see. Surely Pickens was happy for him, and maybe we’re nitpicking here. It was just an odd sight. The vibes felt off, big time.
Steelers Will Be Fine, Don’t Fret
The overreaction from Steelers fans online was over the top, as usual. They get scared and just start tweeting nonsense. Pickens isn’t going anywhere. At least not yet. Everything will be fine. This happens to wide receivers. It’s emotional out there and that’s not a shot in any way. It’s good to see Pickens want to be great. As Steelers fans, we all want to see him be great, and he will be. The kid is insanely talented and he’s just trying to find his way in this league.
Pickens has struggled over the past two games.
Last week, in a water-logged rain game against the Jaguars, Pickens only had five targets, taking his one reception 22 yards, and jumping over a Jaguar or two to find the endzone. Once again this week, Pickens got just five targets and ended the game with less than zero receiving yards. He should have had a touchdown but didn’t toe-tap the second foot in the endzone with plenty of room. It’s been tough for them to spread the board with Johnson back, especially with the way Diontae Johnson has been playing since his return.
Being on an offense this incompetent has to be frustrating for him, but they’ll figure it out. We need the Pickett-to-Pickens connection we saw in the preseason and earlier in the regular season. After an outburst like this, and imagining Jaire Alexander follows Diontae Johnson around next Sunday, expect the game against Green Bay to be a good get-right spot for the Pickett to-Pickens connection. We’re going to be just fine, Steelers fans. Winning solves everything.
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