Steelers WR George Pickens is unhappy about his target share, and rightly so

Steelers rookie receiver George Pickens made his frustration clear about not getting the ball against the Falcons. We understand how Pickens feels.

The last time before Sunday’s game against the Atlanta Falcons that Pittsburgh Steelers rookie receiver George Pickens played in Atlanta’s Mercedes-Benz Stadium was the 2021 CFP College Football Championship. Georgia won, 33-18 over the Alabama Crimson Tide, in part because Pickens scalded Alabama’s defense on this 52-yard pass from quarterback Stetson Bennett.

Pickens’ explosive potential was a primary reason the Steelers selected him with the 52nd overall pick in the second round of the 2022 draft, despite Pickens’ injury history. It was also why I hypothesized before the season began that Pickens, along with first-round rookie quarterback Kenny Pickett, could present a new (and desperately-needed) deep passing game for a Steelers team that hasn’t seen that consistently in years — certainly through the nadir of Ben Roethlisberger’s career.

How the Steelers created a much-needed deep passing game in the 2022 NFL draft

Fast-forward to Week 13 of the 2022 NFL season, and we have a very, very frustrated George Pickens in Pittsburgh’s offense.

Pickens finished the Steelers’ 19-16 over the Falcons with one catch for two yards on two targets.

It’s easy to understand Pickens’ anger at the situation when you have an overall view. Criticize him for the Terrell Owens-esque sideline rant if you want, but he’s not wrong. Coming into this game, per Pro Football Focus, Pickens had a team-high 21 targets of 20 or more air yards with 17 catches for 285 yards, and the only deep touchdown the team had scored in the passing game all season. Receiver Diontae Johnson had 17 deep targets this season… and he’d caught just three of those passes for 84 yards.

And with all that, and against a Falcons defense that came into this game having allowed 17 catches of 20 or more air yards (tied for fifth-most in the league, per Sports Info Solutions), Johnson had 11 targets, catching five passes, for 60 yards and no touchdowns.

You make it make sense. We’re pretty sure that offensive coordinator Matt Canada can’t.

“He’s such a talented guy, and he is very confident as we all know,” Canada said of Pickens this week. “You guys talk to him. So yeah, I enjoy George a lot. I enjoy his competitiveness. I enjoy him wanting the ball all the time. We’ve got really good guys that can catch the ball and we’re trying to get it to them as much as we can in accordance with finding an identity, running the ball. There are a million things we want to do, and George is a big part of it. He makes some really great plays when we can get it to him. When he doesn’t make one, it’s shocking to him.”

It’s shocking to us as well, but less so when you consider that there appears to be some weird conspiracy to avoid throwing the ball to the most game-changing player the Steelers have on the field.

You’d think the Steelers would want more of this, but what do we know?