Tim Benz: There are gaping holes in Mike Tomlin's 'snap management' explanation for George Pickens' reduced workload

During his weekly press conference, Pittsburgh Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin doubled down on his postgame explanation about why George Pickens saw a reduction in playing time during Sunday night’s loss to the Dallas Cowboys.

The wide receiver only played 59% of the offensive snaps during the game. That’s the lowest number of his three-year career.

Tomlin reiterated his postgame statements that Pickens’ diminished participation is part of a workload management plan.

“It’s just a snap management thing in an effort to be more productive in today’s game regarding analytics,” Tomlin said Tuesday. “We do it across a lot of positions, particularly when you look at the totality of a 17-game schedule. I’d imagine Cam Heyward, for example, is playing less snaps than he has. Just trying to grow and trying to get optimum productivity among some individuals.”

Many fans and media members have grumbled in the wake of Tomlin’s explanation, suggesting that the head coach was advancing a false narrative to cover up for some sort of partial benching of Pickens.

Maybe it’s a partial benching because of an apparent lack of effort while running routes. Maybe it’s a partial benching because of substandard blocking. Or because of sideline blowups. Or profane messages on his eye-black tape. Or inconsistent production this year. Or ill-timed mistakes such as red zone fumbles and drops like the ones he endured the previous week in Indianapolis.

The general reaction from most in Western Pennsylvania has been, “ Why muddy the waters Coach T? If it’s a discipline thing, just say it. What’s with the ‘snap management’ misdirect? ”

I’m going the other way. I actually hope Tomlin is BS-ing us on this one. Because if he is telling the truth, then I’m going to be worried that he has lost his mind.

After all, I’ve never heard of a 23-year-old wide receiver that needs “snap management.” Nor would I consider the importance of that management to be on the same level as that for a 35-year-old defensive lineman who is coming off of a major injury as Heyward is.

If playing less is supposed to get maximum return from Pickens during the snaps he does play (as Tomlin suggested), then, based on the Dallas game, so far that experiment is going poorly.

Pickens ended up with three catches on seven targets for 26 yards.

If Pickens really needs snap management, what about Minkah Fitzpatrick, Donte Jackson, Joey Porter Jr., T.J. Watt or Patrick Queen? All of those guys logged at least 92% of the defensive snaps on Sunday.

Furthermore, if Pickens is only on the field for 59% of the snaps, that means the remaining 41% have to be soaked up by the likes of Scotty Miller, Van Jefferson, Calvin Austin and Brandon Johnson.

“I am comfortable with the contributions of the collective,” Tomlin said of his receivers besides Pickens. “I acknowledge who does what, week in and week out, might not be overly predictable, but I don’t necessarily view that as a negative. If they’re capable and they’re prepared, it makes them a difficult collective to prepare for.”

I doubt Pittsburgh’s first five opponents would agree. Those players have combined for just 19 receptions so far this season.

If the Steelers really are interested in getting Davanate Adams, is he going to need “snap management” too? I mean, he’s eight years older than Pickens.

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Obviously, Tomlin is blurring the lines with this explanation. There is something more to it than he was letting on during his press conference. But Tomlin is violently allergic to giving the media — and fans — a straightforward explanation for something if he thinks it will paint one of his players in a negative light.

That’s true even if the player is deserving of the criticism, as is the case with Pickens.

Tomlin would rather split the difference with a convoluted, half-measure explanation like “snap management” than be direct, because he doesn’t want to serve up a player’s reputation as a pound of flesh to a fanbase and media core hungry for a scapegoat in the middle of a two-game losing streak.

Understandable, and commendable from a coaching point of view. If Pickens ever ran his routes as hard as Tomlin is running media interference, there wouldn’t be a problem.

But if what is happening here with Pickens is in any way a benching related to discipline or performance, is the message really going to resonate if Tomlin is preemptively shielding the player from any fallout from the benching in the first place?

Unlikely.

Well, I’m just about done here. Time to put myself on word-count management.

It’s a long season, and if the Steelers keep serving us storylines like this one, I’m going to have a lot more to write over the next 12 weeks.

Listen: Tim Benz and Joe Rutter discuss what Mike Tomlin had to say at his Tuesday press conference after the loss to Dallas.