I think every Pittsburgh Steelers fan in the world has heard a lot of the talk regarding George Pickens leaving the Steelers and being replaced by DK Metcalf.
While Pickens has still been the better player throughout the season, it’s fair to bring up some of his former problems on the field with the Steelers. While Pickens is an excellent player in his own right, and so is Metcalf, it’s also tough to ignore some of what Pickens did in the earlier stages of his career in Pittsburgh.
A lot of that hadn’t been on display during his time with the Cowboys, but it seemed like something was bothering him on Thursday Night Football against the Detroit Lions.
Many decided to call him out on social media. They even wanted national media folks to say something after suggesting the Steelers made the wrong decision to move on from him. I’m in the same boat, as I believe Pickens is a very good player and the Steelers should have dealt with it.
However, Thursday night shows just how problematic he can be at times, and Richard Sherman put it best.
“The big story here was George Pickens,” Richard Sherman said. “George Pickens throughout the game, especially late in the game, just looked uninterested. Uninterested in playing football. And that’s what you can’t have if you’re gonna be a superstar. If you wanna be the best receiver in the National Football League, you can’t ever be disengaged. Doesn’t matter if the game’s going your way or not going your way.”
With CeeDee Lamb not on the field, the Cowboys needed Pickens more than ever after Lamb went down with an injury.
Unfortunately for the Cowboys, Pickens showed a lot of the same problems he did during his time with the Steelers and seemed to be pouting on the field.
The Cowboys almost completed a nice comeback, but weren’t able to get any stops defensively.
The offense looked a bit better late, but had things been cleaner earlier, perhaps they wouldn’t have had to worry about that throughout the game.
Pickens is still a great player, though, and would be nice in Pittsburgh.