Pittsburg Steelers wide receiver George Pickens made headlines after showing his frustrations during a Week 5 loss to the Dallas Cowboys. Pickens — who played a career-low 34 snaps out of 54 plays during the loss — had his least productive game of the season, catching three passes for 26 yards on seven targets. The wideout was seen throwing his helmet on the sideline and later pulled a Cowboys defender down by his facemask after the game was over.
Pickens' outbursts amid his quiet day raised concerns about his standing with the team. However, offensive coordinator Arthur Smith attempted to downplay those worries on Thursday with a bizarre reference.
“There are so many cameras out there, it's like the Truman Show,” he told ESPN's Brooke Pryor when asked about Pickens' controversial game.
Smith said he didn't sense any frustrations from Pickens, according to Mark Kaboly. The comment continues a trend of Steelers coaches denying any turmoil surrounding their top receiver. When asked about Pickens' snap count after the Cowboys loss, head coach Mike Tomlin said the wideout's limited reps aimed to increase his efficiency on the field.
While Pittsburgh's coaches continue to dodge questions about Pickens' behavior, more concerning information is beginning to surface about the Georgia product.
What is going on with George Pickens and the Steelers?
Rumors of issues between Pickens and the Steelers coaching staff have circled since the offseason. He reportedly had a heated exchange with receivers coach Zach Azzanni during the first day of training camp after Azzanni didn't like how he executed an assignment, according to the Pittsburg Post-Gazette's Ray Fittipaldo.
Fittipaldo reported Tuesday that a source told him Pickens has shown up late for work on multiple occasions this season.
Despite his standing as the team's top wideout, Pickens played far less than Van Jefferson (47 snaps) and Calvin Austin (44 snaps) during the Cowboys loss. While Tomlin said he was looking for higher-quality reps amid the light workload, Pickens didn't appear to be giving full effort on several routes.
However, Tomlin took no issue with Pickens' effort during the Dallas loss, standing by his comments about managing the wideout's workload.
“I didn't have any outlying issue with his effort,” the coach told Pryor. “As I mentioned after the game … 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.”
Tomlin, Pickens, and the Steelers will look to get back on track when they travel to face the Las Vegas Raiders in Week 6.