The Pittsburgh Steelers struggled mightily on offense during the Week 5 loss to the Dallas Cowboys, and wide receiver George Pickens was noticeably absent from the field much more than he should've been.
Pickens finished the game with three catches for 26 yards on seven targets, but he had just one catch for eight yards on three targets over the first three quarters. Adding to that, he had an oddly low number of snaps and routes run.
Through three quarters, Pickens had run just 12 routes and played just 21 snaps, per ESPN's Brooke Pryor. To compare, Van Jefferson had 32 snaps and 18 routes run in that same span, and Calvin Austin had 16 routes and 29 snaps. In all, Pickens played just 34 of 58 offensive snaps.
George Pickens has run just 12 routes tonight, the fewest of the Steelers' WRs.
— Brooke Pryor (@bepryor) October 7, 2024
He's also played only 21 snaps, while Van Jefferson (32) has played the most among WRs. pic.twitter.com/YcQPn8YaHg
Those numbers were absolutely stunning when you consider how shaky things are behind Pickens, who is a more proven commodity than either of those players.
After the game, head coach Mike Tomlin was asked about Pickens' lack of usage. Tomlin said it was because of "snap management" and compared the approach to rotations of defensive linemen, while also adding there is no "underlying story" behind his playing time.
"You know, we just wanted to kind of minimize his reps in an effort to get more productivity," he said. "You know, we're just trying to rep manage in terms of the totality of the big picture. He wasn't less of a focal point in terms of our intentions of what we wanted to do offensively, but we did wanna cut his reps a little bit in an effort to get higher quality play, just in general."
"It's no different than we minimized some of the snaps of d-linemen like Cam Heyward and so forth, man," Tomlin added. "It is just about snap management. It's no underlying story, to be quite honest with you."
Pickens wrote "Open F—— Always" on his eye black on Sunday night. One has to wonder if he was sending his quarterback and/or offensive coordinator a message. If so, it didn't help him see the field more, that's for sure.
With how much the offense has struggled this season, the Steelers can ill-afford to take part in "snap management" with their best wide receiver. He needs to be on the field and running all the routes he can handle. Anything less is negligence.
This obviously makes you wonder if there is a deeper issue at play here. If there is, Tomlin certainly wouldn't admit to it, as he usually keeps things close to the vest.
Pickens' usage now becomes something to monitor moving forward.
