Suppose you were paying attention Sunday night during the Pittsburgh Steelers 20-17 loss to the Dallas Cowboys. In that case, you might have noticed that wide receiver George Pickens was conspicuously absent at seemingly important junctures in the game.
Pickens, the team’s No. 1 wide receiver got what seemed like an unusual amount of rest Sunday and wasn’t on the field at times when you would assume the team’s top target should be.
After the game, head coach Mike Tomlin addressed this when asked by the media and offered up a rather odd explanation for it.
Mike Tomlin says George Pickens was limited because of “snap management” — compared it to resting and rotating defensive lineman like Cam Heyward — and there’s “no underlying story”
— Brooke Pryor (@bepryor) October 7, 2024
Tomlin attributed the absence to what he called “snap management” and compared the 23-year-old Pickens to the 35-year-old Cam Heyward in terms of resting and rotating players in and out.
There’s no way this is true. Pickens should never need to come off the field unless he is hurt or if there’s another reason that Tomlin doesn’t want to address publicly. We really hope this isn’t the start of something worse with Pickens but after last season, nothing with him would shock us. Pickens caught three passes for 26 yards on Sunday night.
