Steelers Coach Justifies Controversial George Pickens Decision in Loss To Cowboys

Sunday was not a very good day for Pittsburgh Steelers wide receiver George Pickens. The Dallas Cowboys were effective in defending against him. Plus, Pickens was only on the field for a total of 34 offensive snaps – his fewest in the 2024 NFL regular season thus far.

Once it was all said and done on the field, Pickens only had 26 receiving yards on three catches and seven targets against the Cowboys. As the no. 1 wide receiver on the Steelers’ depth chart, Pickens was expected to be on the field a lot but that simply did not turn out to be the case in the Dallas game.

While it is easy to speculate about something not being right with Pickens and the Steelers coaching staff due to his trips to the bench, particularly in the second half, Pittsburgh head coach Mike Tomlin tried to shut down that narrative when he spoke to reporters following his team’s 20-17 loss to Dallas.

“You know, we just wanted to kind of minimize his reps in an effort to get more productivity,” Tomlin said (h/t Steelers Depot ).

“You know, we're just trying to rep manage in terms of the totality of the big picture. He wasn't less of a focal point in terms of our intentions of what we wanted to do offensively, but we did wanna cut his reps a little bit in an effort to get higher quality play, just in general," Tomlin added.

Tomlin also said that Pickens’ low snap count was nothing more than “snap management,” and that there's “no underlying story.”

Prior to the Cowboys game, Pickens’ fewest offensive snaps in the 2024 season were 46 during Week 1’s win over the Atlanta Falcons.

The good news for Pickens is that he will have a chance to rebound in a big way in Week 6 against the struggling Las Vegas Raiders.

Related: Steelers WR George Pickens Takes Unexpected Cheap Shot at Cowboys Player After Loss