Mike Tomlin Gave Strange Explanation for George Pickens's Low Snap Count vs. Cowboys

The young receiver played only 60% of his team's offensive snaps against Dallas.

Pickens had three catches for 26 yards against Dallas / Barry Reeger-Imagn Images

The Pittsburgh Steelers couldn't get much going offensively against the Dallas Cowboys on Sunday Night Football. Their failure to get points on the board ultimately cost them as Dak Prescott threw two touchdowns in the final quarter to secure the Cowboys' victory and drop the Steelers to 3-2.

Part of the problem was wide receiver George Pickens, who finished with only three catches for 26 yards on the night. He went viral for melting down and going at cornerback Jourdan Lewis after the final whistle and overall did not have a good night out there. He also wasn't out there very much.

ESPN's Steelers reporter, Brooke Pryor, noticed Pickens only played about 60% of his team's offensive snaps and asked head coach Mike Tomlin why he wasn't out there the whole time. Tomlin had a pretty strange answer, saying he was trying to maximize Pickens's productivity and compared it to rotating defensive linemen in and out of the game in order to keep their legs fresh.

"We just wanted to kind of minimize his reps in an effort to get more productivity," Tomlin said. "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 intentions of what we wanted to do offensively, but we did want to cut his reps a little bit in an effort o get higher quality play, just in general."

Pryor asked if that indicated Pickens wasn't playing up to the "quality" Tomlin wanted for him.

"It's no different than we minimized some of the snaps of D lineman like Cam Heyward and so forth, man," Tomlin responded. "it is just about snap management. It is no underlying story to be quite honest with you."

The full exchange with Mike Tomlin on George Pickens playing only 34 of 57 offensive snaps

Tomlin: "We just wanted to minimize his reps in an effort to get more productivity. ... We did want to cut his reps a little bit in an effort to get higher quality play, just in general." pic.twitter.com/mQw2vD2i5q

— Brooke Pryor (@bepryor) October 7, 2024

This comes across as bizarre because NFL teams always want their best playmakers on the field at all times, no matter what. Until this week Pittsburgh seemed to agree with that thinking; in the first four games of the year Pickens played at least 68% of offensive snaps, and last week against the Indianapolis Colts peaked at 86%. A sudden decrease is noteworthy.

How Pickens' snaps shake out next week against the Las Vegas Raiders is now something to watch.

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