The Pittsburgh Steelers fell 31-17 to the Buffalo Bills on Monday, and Steelers wide receiver George Pickens is angry with the officiating.
After dealing with a handful of questionable calls, Pickens ended up throwing his helmet in frustration during the game:
Another no call for the Bills how is that possible 😭😭😭😭
George Pickens completely turned around and held during his route
Steelers getting cheated out of this game🤣
pic.twitter.com/pnDESqtG4b— Football Fanatics (@FFB_Fanatics) January 16, 2024
George Pickens was looking for a call pic.twitter.com/iz8QjCp15s
— NFL on CBS 🏈 (@NFLonCBS) January 16, 2024
After the loss, Pickens laid it out plainly, according to Chris Adamski of Trib Live:
“'I am still stuck on this game right now, with the refs,' Pickens said after his Pittsburgh Steelers lost to the Buffalo Bills. ‘Refs, refs, refs. That’s the only thing that’s really on my mind when it’s blatant like it was today.'
“You are not gonna win a game when you have to play refs and the Buffalo Bills,” Pickens said. “That’s really what I feel like happened to us today, to be honest.
Article Continues Below“I could see (if it was) contact down the field, ‘go’ ball, me pushing, him pushing, no call, big in, he’s low-hip, diving for the football, we both diving and making a play on the ball. But blatantly grabbing me?”
“That’s the truth, bro. It’s the refs. The NFL is political. Put that in a quote.”'
Pickens finished his first playoff game with five catches for 50 yards. He was targeted a game-high 11 times by Steelers quarterback Mason Rudolph. Pickens also had a 15-yard end-around run on the final play of the third quarter. Unfortunately, he also had a fumble just one play in on Pittsburgh's 18-yard line.
The Steelers fell behind by three touchdowns in the second quarter before finally mustering some offense.
Pickens summed it all up to Adamski, “You can’t play (against an) NFL team and the refs. You can’t play a game of football when you’re trying to play the refs, too.”