Steelers HC Mike Tomlin defends highly criticized WR George Pickens

Steelers wide receiver George Pickens has been highly criticized for his poor showing in Pittsburgh's Week 5 loss to the Dallas Cowboys on "Sunday Night Football."

The third-year wide receiver wore black eye tape that read " Open (expletive) Always ," but finished the game with just three catches for 26 yards.

A big reason why he had his lowest yardage total of the season was because he was seen putting in very little effort during his route running on several occasions.

Pickens was clearly frustrated with his usage, but not taking advantage of the looks he does get won't help his case.

Surprisingly, head coach Mike Tomlin didn't seem to have a problem with it.

"I didn't have any outlying issue with his effort," he stated .

To cap it all off, Pickens was then seen pulling the face mask of Cowboys cornerback Jourdan Lewis as the clock hit zero.

It wasn't entirely surprising to see given Pickens' reputation in the first two years of his NFL career, but many had hoped he had finally turned a corner this year.

However, Tomlin still seems to think he has.

"In those instances, no," Tomlin said when asked if Pickens is dealing with adversity well. "But largely, he has improved in those areas."

There is reason to believe Tomlin feels differently, though.

Pickens only played 57 percent of the snaps last week, which is down nearly 30 percent from the week before.

Tomlin stuck with "load management" as his reasoning why, but there's a strong argument that the Steelers are just trying to deal with Pickens the best that they can since he is undoubtedly their No. 1 wide receiver.

Through the first five weeks of the season, wide receivers not named George Pickens have registered just 19 catches for 233 yards. Pickens has 23 catches for 310 yards.

Once again, however, Tomlin wasn't worried with the state of Pittsburgh's wide receiver room.

"I like the contributions," Tomlin continued . "We'll keep working and they'll keep readying themselves."

The Steelers inquiring about wide receivers Brandon Aiyuk and Davante Adams says otherwise, but it looks like they're willing to deal with Pickens' antics and the rest of their underwhelming wide receivers until that changes.

Pittsburgh will hope to see a better version of Pickens in Week 6 when it goes on the road to face the Las Vegas Raiders (2-3).

All quotes obtained firsthand unless otherwise noted.