It wasn’t enough that the Pittsburgh Steelers had to lose to the Cleveland Browns on Thursday night. The Steelers losing a game they should have won is nothing new. But the fact that wide receiver George Pickens on-field theatrics have become almost as commonplace is what we are far more frustrated by.
The headlines are all about Pickens in a scrum with a Browns defensive back on the team’s final play instead of trying to make a play on the Hail Mary to help the team win the game. But before that play, there’s this one.
As you can see from the video below, Pickens made a passing attempt to trip Browns defensive back Grant Delpit after a play, prompting Delpit to snatch Pickens’ mouthpiece off of his helmet. A move that drew a penalty on Delpit.
George Pickens trying to trip Grant Delpit pic.twitter.com/8ZXt19gtHc
— Matthew Peterson (@MatthewPetey) November 23, 2024
There’s no denying how much talent and potential Pickens has. But he is in no way gifted enough on the field for all of this nonsense. The Steelers lived through the immaturity and theatrics of Antonio Brown but this was very different. Brown was the best receiver in the league during a six-year stretch that once he wasn’t, that’s when things changed.
The other side of this is the Steelers are 8-3 and in the thick of the race for the AFC North. This is why we highly doubt head coach Mike Tomlin will do anything about this in hopes of Pickens staying on the rails just enough to get through the season.