Madden Monday: George Pickens is upset at Steelers’ offense. ‘In this case, Pickens is right’
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A few years ago, Mark Madden of 105.9 The X and TribLIVE dubbed former Pittsburgh Steelers wide receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster as “A.B. Jr.” and Chase Claypool as “A.B. Jr. Jr.”
With all of their antics and quotes, the descriptions fit.
So what does that mean for George Pickens in the wake of this week’s social media temper tantrum? Are we going to have to go to Roman numerals next? Is Pickens going to be “A.B. IV”?
“I’m not going to do that just yet because, in this case, Pickens is right,” Madden said in this week’s “Madden Monday” podcast. “A.B. was never right. Claypool was never right. JuJu was just always immature. Pickens is right here. For him to get two catches for minus-1 yard and to be targeted only five times in that game against Tennessee? That’s ridiculous.”
After the second-year wideout put up those stats versus the Titans on Thursday night, Pickens posted a story on his Instagram saying, “Free me.” He then deleted all photos of him in relation to the Steelers, and it was reported that he unfollowed the team, head coach Mike Tomlin and quarterback Kenny Pickett.
Pickens appears to be trying to smooth things over after his social media activity has gotten so much attention since Friday morning. Regardless, Madden is sympathetic to Pickens’ angst.
“The offense has been dumbed down so badly that almost all risk has been taken out of it. Which puts a guy like George Pickens, who might be their most dynamic weapon, on the pay-no-mind list,” Madden said.
Yes. It is true that Pickett only has four interceptions in 230 attempts (I’d argue he’s had four more potential picks that could’ve gone for touchdowns dropped as well, but let’s not quibble). But Pickett is also 24th in yards per pass attempt at 6.5.
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“That approach is going to let them beat the bummy teams like Tennessee (3-5). They’ll probably beat Green Bay (3-5) and get to 6-3. But that’s going to be a bit tougher the two weeks after that at Cleveland and Cincinnati. It would be incredibly difficult if they played a real team in a playoff game like Kansas City or Miami — the teams that score a lot. The teams against whom you have to score more and faster.”
According to Madden, Mike Tomlin’s willingness to embrace this hyper-conservative approach is a condemnation of quarterback Pickett.
“I think Pickett stinks,” Madden said. “That’s not a strong statement. He stinks. He’s one of the worst quarterbacks in the league. And I think the Steelers might even know that now. And I think they decided the way to squeak in the playoffs — barely — and at the very least get to 9-8 and maintain that meaningless streak (of having Tomlin never having a losing season) is just to never turn the ball over.”
Also, during the podcast, Madden and I talk about the Penguins’ 10-2 win in San Jose, awful World Series television ratings and Pitt’s loss to Florida State.