This is not a football team…it’s a team of “Me’s and I’s”. The Pittsburgh Steelers are really under the spotlight as their low-effort locker room issues are on full display with George Pickens’ latest controversy.
Something needs to change in Pittsburgh…fast.
After yet another loss that all but destroys the Steelers chances of a playoff spot, the Pittsburgh Steelers are really under the gun from their loyal, die-hard fans and the Pittsburgh media as blatant acts of low effort and a general sense of apathy to the team’s success by the players and coaches has been seeping into the product on the field. And, to be honest, I think there needs to be MASSIVE changes in Pittsburgh.
I recently have done a few articles and a video on the rot that has manifested at the heart of the Pittsburgh Steelers organization, and I thought that the Steelers were just going to sulk their way to another 9-8 record under Tomlin and miss out on another postseason. I mean, that is what they have pretty much done in all but one of the last six years, right?
Well, I’m taking back that prediction as the Steelers have utterly imploded these last few weeks with not only excruciating media pressure from both journalists, pundits, and former Steelers players coming out and criticizing the poor performances of the team, but the Steelers own star players have displayed numerous moments of complete lack of effort that has gone unpunished by the coaching staff.
And no more so than what George Pickens did on a pretty harmless rushing play during the Steelers 30-13 loss to the Indianapolis Colts.
On a goal-to-go situation for the Steelers, the Pittsburgh offensive coaching staff dialed up a fake-handoff, pitch counter run play to running back Jaylen Warren for him to follow the moving pocket and beat the cornerbacks and safeties on the Colts’ left side of the defense to rush into the end zone.
I know I’m getting into far too nitty-gritty detail about a running back play (which I probably butchered explaining as I don’t have any professional running back experience LOL), but it’s important to understand this part of the play as this is where George Pickens’ integrity…or lack thereof…was put on full display. Being the lone receiver on that side of the field, he was tasked with being the lead blocker for Waddle and to help him rush into the endzone.
Yet, instead of blocking for Waddle as he was supposed to, he decided to just stand by and watch as four Colts players blew up Waddle from getting into the endzone. And, as we all know, the Steelers ended up losing the game 30-13 and dropped to 7-7 on the season with their playoff chances also falling to just 4%. Not a great look, right?
Well, it gets far worse from there as when asked about his obvious lack of effort, which happened a few times in that game as he refused to run back and chase down a defender after a Mitch Trubisky pass was intercepted right next to him, Pickens responded, “I was just trying to prevent the Tank Dell situation, the same thing that happened to (him). I ain’t want to get an injury. When you stay on the block too low, you can get ran up on very easily.”
Yes, a professional receiver in the National Football League, who plays for arguably the greatest organization in football over the last 50 years in the Pittsburgh Steelers (6 Super Bowl wins does make them strong favorites for that crown), said that he allowed one of his teammates to get blown up by four opposing players due to him not wanting to get injured. How much more disgraceful can you get?
Oh, I know who we should ask for that question: Mike Tomlin.
Why? Oh, it’s just because after Pickens made that outrageous comment to the media, and the very same media members told Tomlin his response and if he would bench Pickens for such a pathetic excuse, the 16-year Steelers head coach said that he wouldn’t as “He’s got talents, we want to utilize them,” and he’s “very much a work in progress”. ARE YOU SERIOUS, MIKE TOMLIN?!?!? DO YOU WANT TO GET FIRED ON THE SPOT!!!
Tomlin is a Steelers legend by all accounts and should be a Hall of Fame head coach when all is said and done in his career, but this kind of attitude is what destroys teams and is the reason the Steelers have fallen apart as a franchise. You can’t excuse blatant selfishness and detrimental team behavior like this just because Pickens is talented, young, and “a work in progress”.
You BENCH Pickens for his responses to the media and lack of effort…just as you should have benched Antonio Brown, JuJu Smith-Schuster, Le’Veon Bell, Chase Claypool, and Diontae Johnson when they acted out or displayed no effort on the field.
But Tomlin seems to just completely put the horse blinders on when it comes to any issue on the offensive side of the football given his predisposition to defense, which is a massive problem as it allows rot to fester and grow in the locker room. The same rot we are seeing now in Pittsburgh as the Steelers are going to have their first losing season under Tomlin this year.
They are not good enough to beat any one of the Bengals (game this week), Seahawks (Dec 31.), and the Ravens (Jan 7.) in their upcoming games to maintain Tomlin’s record, let alone beating two of the three to maintain Tomlin’s record. The streak ends this season…and so should Tomlin’s time as the Steelers head coach as there’s just too much apathy, disregard, and friction for him to continue on any longer.
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