Steelers' Mike Tomlin Admits George Pickens Maturity Issues
PITTSBURGH -- It's a new week but the same story for Pittsburgh Steelers wide receiver George Pickens, who is again receiving calls from his head coach to provide better effort on the field.
Mike Tomlin called out his second-year wideout for the second straight week, saying that Pickens has made some strides since the two met last week to discuss frustrations over a lack of production and how Pickens can respond to not getting the ball as much as he'd like.
“I thought he was better but still has, obviously, room for continued improvement,” Tomlin said.
Videos of Pickens starting but not finishing a block down in the redzone, when it seemed like running back Jaylen Warren might have had a chance to score against the Colts this past weekend, were shared widely on social media, and Tomlin cited that play as one of the areas in which Pickens can improve.
“That’s one of the examples I’m talking about in terms of obvious room for improvement,” Tomlin said.
Another example of how Pickens could improve came in the passing game as well. He failed to come down with a jump ball from Mitch Trubisky that could have moved the Steelers from midfield to the Indianapolis 11-yard line. Nick Cross won the battle for the big catch against Pickens, who last week had said he wasn't getting enough opportunities to catch deep passes.
"I don’t know. You guys be at practice, right?" Pickens said. "I would just say I hope to see things like that. When it’s routes like that, I mean, I can’t really produce that way, running 5-yard routes, 3-yard routes."
With Pickens' frustrations and lack of effort at times reappearing for the Steelers in successive weeks and having suffered another embarrassing, mistake-riddled loss in a big spot, Tomlin was asked if his team has maturity issues, especially at the skill positions on offense. He said what the team is going through could be described as that.
"We've got dealing with adversity issues and sometimes those can be characterized as maturity issues, certainly," Tomlin said.
So, how do the Steelers and Pickens get past these issues? According to Tomlin, the solution is straightforward.
"We keep working," he said.
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