George Pickens, the Pittsburgh Steelers’ leading receiver over the last three seasons, has missed the last two games due to an injury. His status for Saturday night’s game against the Baltimore Ravens has been up in the air until now.
What Happened to George Pickens?
The injury was first revealed when Pickens suffered a hamstring strain in practice before the Steelers’ Week 14 matchup with the Cleveland Browns. The injury was upgraded to a Grade 2 hamstring tear, which typically keeps players sidelined anywhere from two weeks to a month.
There was some optimism around Pickens’ status at the beginning of the week as he began doing individual drills at practice off to the side. That hope was put to rest, however, when the final injury report was released that Pickens was officially ruled out for Week 16.
Since entering the NFL, Pittsburgh’s star wideout has had a pretty clean slate of health, so this absence has come as a huge disappointment for the Steelers, who are having yet another great season under head coach Mike Tomlin.
Pickens’ next chance to return will come in Week 17, with the Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs rolling into Pittsburgh on Christmas Day. With the short week after this Sunday, it’s possible that the Steelers wanted to keep him fresh for a chance to return against the Chiefs, but that remains to be seen.
Steelers Offensive Performance Without Pickens
Overall, it’s been a struggle moving the ball through the air without Pickens. Pittsburgh’s offense started slow in both games without him, but against Cleveland, the Steelers were able to ride the defensive momentum to victory. Pittsburgh is 1-1 since he was initially ruled out, and quarterback Russell Wilson has had just 254 passing yards in the two games since.
Pickens leads the team with 55 receptions and 850 yards on the year, good for 70.8 yards per game. Steelers wideouts in his absence as a unit have averaged 95.5 yards per game.
In the Week 14 rematch with the Browns, Pittsburgh’s defense picked up the weight of Pickens’ absence. For the second straight game against Cleveland, the defense forced three turnovers, but this time, they were locked in and did not allow the Browns to score any points in the second or third quarter, flipping the game from trailing 7-3 to leading 27-7 (Steelers would win 27-14).
Week 15 brought the Steelers to Philadelphia to take on their intrastate rivals, the Eagles. Wilson was completely stymied and held to just 128 passing yards, plus Pittsburgh was held to 56 total rushing yards. The Steelers did not score in the second half and had just two possessions in that time as the Eagles won 27-13.
While it’s smart to be cautious with injuries, the Steelers would have loved to have had Pickens back for their rematch with Baltimore this weekend. Pittsburgh won the first clash 18-16, with Pickens as their leading receiver hauling in eight passes for 89 yards.
While the Steelers remain atop the AFC North at 10-6, they’ll need more from everyone else to hold off the Ravens, who are right on their tail at 9-5.
