The Pittsburgh Steelers Head Coach Mike Tomlin has been known for several years as a players coach as he has failed to discipline his star players since he started. That has continued into this season as Diontae Johnson made a farce in the Pittsburgh locker room this season by starting a fight with elite safety Minkah Fitzpatrick and then putting in low effort in the following week against the Cincinnati Bengals. After numerous failed attempts with a soft hand, one would think that Tomlin would use a tougher approach eventually.
Mike Tomlin Addresses Frustration from Another Offensive Star
In a weekly interview with Steelers.com reporter Bob Labriola, Tomlin explained that he sat down with star receiver George Pickens this week to tell him to tone down the outgoing frustration. He also went through additional film with his budding star and explained how Bill Belichick and the New England Patriots completely shut him down last week in the 21-18 loss.
“Education. He and I had a great meeting this week.” Tomlin reported to Labriola. “We were just talking about the New England Agenda. I’m familiar with the agenda because I’ve just been a component of it in the past. When you have a dynamic player, oftentimes from a game playing perspective, you’ll pick a block of time or a block of plays where you’re just going to deny that guy the ball and make others beat you.”
Pickens made essentially no impact in the loss to New England as he was held to five catches for nineteen yards. His 19 yards are the fewest he’s had since he joined Pittsburgh while he spent his entire day as the check down option for a struggling quarterback Mitch Trubisky. It was obvious that Belichick rested his gameplan on shutting down the Pittsburgh deep threat and forcing other components of the limited offense to defeat him. As Tomlin stated, this is a common defensive philosophy and New England executed it to perfection.
“The agenda is to keep the ball out of the hands of a significant player but also for that significant player, its to create some angst within him and within that unit”
It was clear during the game that Pickens was highly upset and told reporters after the game that he couldn’t be effective with his current route tree. Essentially blaming Tomlin for his offensive struggle by limiting him in the contest of backup quarterbacks.
Chuck Noll would’ve had George Pickens running laps at halftime with an effort like this while the Steelers were losing 21-3 in the 2nd QTR. pic.twitter.com/UtWDxqAvug
— Billy Hartford (@BudDupreeFan) December 8, 2023
It is obvious that Pickens needs to handle his emotions better and Tomlin once again took the friendly approach of trying to sit down and accommodate the young receiver. While I don’t hope for it, I expect the situation with Pickens to get hairier as Tomlin continuously refuses to address mutiny in his locker room and the Pittsburgh season continues to deteriorate.
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