Pittsburgh Steelers WR George Pickens is drawing flak from all around. In the Week 5 game, hitting the career-low 34 snaps wasn’t enough for him. He wore his eye black with the expletive ‘Open F—–g Always‘ and brought in more trouble. Pissed at this act, former Steelers WR Antonio Brown extended a ‘helping hand‘ to keep Pickens in line.

Super Bowl LV champion Brown made a snide comment in an X post, “Steelers need a WR coach?” Brown pointed out that he can get Pickens in line, which appears to be the need of the hour. The WR’s misconduct certainly deserves some strict actions—he will probably be facing fines from the league. To add to the drama, he also yanked opposing defender Jourdan Lewis down by the facemask when he tried to say something post a 17-20 loss in the game vs the Dallas Cowboys.

The league is investigating the eye black situation closely, as accessories with personal messages are unacceptable without prior permission per NFL rulebook. However, Steelers HC Mike Tomlin is not worried at all. When asked about the controversial eye black, he said, “I don’t know what messaging you’re talking about.” This ‘so what‘ attitude of the coach and his WR justifies Brown’s comments. 

And it goes without saying that the WR is not just catching flak due to his behavior. His performance has been declining, even if HC Tomlin is hesitant to face the music!

Pickens benched: Snap management or a slap on the wrist?

It goes without saying, George Pickens has been below par this season. In five games he has covered a measly 310 yards, and in the game vs Cowboys, things were worse. The WR landed 3 receptions and a dismal 26 receiving yards. Tomlin benched him for most of the game to cover his poor form., In the end, Pickens played a mere 59% of the snaps, while his fellow WRs Van Jefferson (81%) and Calvin Austin III (76%) got more chances.

Despite all the shenanigans, HC Tomlin seems unbothered and had a different reasoning for Pickens’ benching. “That’s just a snap management thing and an effort to be more productive in today’s game regarding analytics. We do it across a lot of positions, particularly when you look at the totality of a 17-game schedule. I’d imagine Cam Heyward, for example, is playing fewer snaps,” he explained after the loss. But the numbers paint a different picture as Heyward played 72% of the defensive snaps, leading the defense.

These are certainly difficult times for the 23-year-old WR. If his eye black message is found to be derogatory—which it will surely be, given the F-bomb—fines will be released on Saturday. Pickens can only hope that the league shows him some mercy.