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Steelers’ George Pickens Had Tense Moment With Reporter Over Russell Wilson Question

Pickens was asked about not being on the same page as his quarterback.

Liam McKeone

George Pickens
George Pickens / Alan Saunders on
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On Christmas Day, the Pittsburgh Steelers lost to the Kansas City Chiefs, 29–10. Early in the loss, Russell Wilson threw a head-scratching interception in the end zone in which it looked like he targeted a triple-covered tight end Pat Freiermuth. Speaking to reporters after the game Wilson said he thought George Pickens was going to run a vertical route to the end zone that would draw the safety away and allow him to make that throw. Pickens, as you might've guessed, didn't run that route. But Wilson didn't blame his young teammate and took responsibility for the error in the same breath; Pickens' actions on the play were later defended by coach Mike Tomlin as well.

On Thursday Pickens, who missed the previous three games with an injury, was asked about him and Wilson not "being on the same page" on that play and it resulted in a tense moment between the young wideout and the reporter who asked the question.

"It seemed like you and Russ weren't on the same page in that interception against the Chiefs. How does that happen and what do you guys do to address it?" Pickens was asked by Steelers reporter Alan Saunders.

"You said me and Russell wasn't on the same page?" Pickens questioned.

"Yeah, well, that's what he said," Saunders replied.

"That's what he said? Or is that what you said?" Pickens asked.

"That's what he said," Saunders responded.

"Oh, O.K.," Pickens said. Then he fell silent when asked the question again, put his mask over his nose, and abruptly ended the press scrum.

Clearly Pickens wasn't a fan of the line of questioning.

He can give reporters something else to ask about on Saturday night when the Steelers host the Cincinnati Bengals in the season finale.

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Liam McKeone
LIAM MCKEONE

Liam McKeone is a senior writer for the Breaking and Trending News team at Sports Illustrated. He has been in the industry as a content creator since 2017, and prior to joining SI in May 2024, McKeone worked for NBC Sports Boston and The Big Lead. In addition to his work as a writer, he has hosted the Press Pass Podcast covering sports media and The Big Stream covering pop culture. A graduate of Fordham University, he is always up for a good debate and enjoys loudly arguing about sports, rap music, books and video games. McKeone has been a member of the National Sports Media Association since 2020.

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