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The Pittsburgh Steelers have watched their season fall apart in recent weeks amid a three-game losing streak.
Unsurprisingly, the losses haven’t set well with second-year wide receiver George Pickens, who has also seemed unhappy with his lack of targets from quarterbacks Kenny Pickett and Mitch Trubisky.
But now Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin has a simple message for his young wideout: “keep your d— mouth shut.”
Tomlin offered those words of advice to the Georgia product after Pickens’ recent comments discussing his lack of effort and blaming media members for the criticism he’s received.
“George is a talented guy but he’s growing and growing in a lot of ways in regards to football and life,” Tomlin began. “We don’t run away from that. We run to that organizationally when we draft guys. We’re committed to being a component of their growth and development in all areas.”
But as Tomlin knows well, when your team is struggling, sometimes it’s best to just say nothing.
“When you’re winning and doing your jobs, a lot of the attention is on things such as that,” Tomlin said. “When you’re not doing your job and losing, you better keep your d— mouth shut and understand that that tracks a certain type of attention, as well. And usually that’s vulture-like attention.”
Pickens has already matched his reception and yards totals from a year ago. But he hasn’t taken the leap that some imagined he would in year two.
Now Steelers fans are wondering whether it may not be time to sell high on the talented receiver. But Tomlin doesn’t seem to be at that point yet.
Pickens is expected to start in what is essentially a must-win game against the Cincinnati Bengals on Saturday. Both division rivals are fighting for a Wild Card spot in the AFC.