The Pittsburgh Steelers have an "unbelievable talent" in second-year wide receiver George Pickens, according to Offensive Coordinator Matt Canada. Due to that fact, opposing defenses will try to do everything in their power to take him away. After exploding for back-to-back 100-plus-yard games against the Baltimore Ravens and Los Angeles Rams, Pickens put up a combined 21 yards in the next two contests against the Jacksonville Jaguars and Tennessee Titans.
Jared Wickerham / Pittsburgh Steelers
Steelers' George Pickens celebrates after a catch against the Baltimore Ravens in Week 5 of 2023.
Canada addressed Pickens' struggles in the last two weeks when he spoke to the media on Thursday. He said via a video posted on YouTube by Tribune-Democrat sports reporter Amanda Godsey that they as a coaching staff are trying to find the right ways to ensure that Pickens doesn't get lost, like he has at times this season.
"We can’t just let him be minimized completely," he said. "There’s a balance there. We understand both sides of that. Ultimately, all we care about is winning, but we certainly want to maximize all our guys' potential."
Canada said that while there's certainly a want to make sure that Pickens has the ball in his hands as one of the unit's top playmakers when defenses are committing the resources to stop him, it opens up other areas of the offense. The coordinator pointed to Thursday night against the Titans where they had some form of double coverage on Pickens almost all evening and it opened the run game to have their most successful outing with 166 yards.
He also said when a team commits to stopping Pickens, it has opened up Diontae Johnson, who has led the team in receiving yards the last two weeks and finally scored a touchdown for the first time since Week 16 of the 2021 season.
"There's also an opportunity if they're putting two guys on him [Pickens] that we've got to be making them pay enough to turn all our drives into scoring drives," he said. "At some point, they won't be able to do that. Our run game increases, Tae [Johnson] increases and other guys increase so that they can't do that."
Quarterback Kenny Pickett also plays a big part in how the offense is going to maximize the talents of Pickens. The signal-caller said in October that whenever Pickens gets one-on-one coverage, he wants to get him the ball because he's confident that the talented receiver will make a play.
Jordan Schofield / SteelerNation (Twitter / x: @JSKO_PHOTO)
Steelers quarterback Kenny Pickett and receiver George Pickens have a quick chat on the field while Pittsburgh played the New York Jets in the 2022 season.
Pickens had the biggest game of his career against the Ravens in Week 5 with 130 yards receiving and a touchdown to go with 16 yards on the ground. He did that while Pittsburgh was missing both Johnson and tight end Pat Freiermuth, who were both dealing with injuries. Despite Johnson being back, teams have decided that stopping the Pickett-to-Pickens connection is their best avenue for stopping the Pittsburgh offense.
Steelers' Canada Looking For More Ways To Involve Pickens
Canada acknowledged that he can certainly do more to try to get the ball into the hands of Pickens to help him make plays. Against the Titans, when he made two catches for a negative yard, one of his two catches was a screen pass that was poorly thrown by Pickett, which meant the receiver had to make a difficult catch with no room to run. If the execution is better, screen passes are often an easy way for a coordinator to get a player more involved.
Jordan Schofield / SteelerNation (Twitter / X: @JSKO_PHOTO)
Steelers wide receiver, George Pickens (#14) warms up at Acrisure Stadium prior to a 2022 preseason game in Pittsburgh, PA.
Canada said he's not going to ask Pickett to just zero in on Pickens and throw it to him no matter what because that's not going to work, especially with the extra focus he is drawing. He did say that there's more they can do to get the most out of him.
"We can certainly schematically work to help him [Pickens]," said Canada.
Canada and Pickett will try to do their part to help him, but Pickens will also need to work to help himself. He had what looked to be a touchdown when Pickett found him in the end zone against the Titans, but he didn't get a second foot down in bounds. As much as others want to play a part in the solution, Pickens holds the keys to his success.
What did you think of Canada's comments on Pickens? How would you try to make him a bigger part of the game plan with teams trying to take him away? Comment below!
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