Pittsburgh Steelers WR George Pickens has a well-documented history of offering excuses. Even when the excuses might be valid, however, it never exactly puts him over in a good way. And his excuse for why the Steelers lost to the Cleveland Browns has one particularly glaring flaw—among others. Of all people, Stephen A. Smith illustrated those flaws on ESPN’s First Take on Friday.
“You are Pittsburgh Steeler. I have never heard a Pittsburgh Steeler in my life complaining about inclement weather”, Smith said of Pickens. “We’ve seen them play under the most adverse conditions throughout history. Now, if you’re a member the Chargers, … or you’re one of the LA teams or you’re on the Miami team, it makes sense. But to me, him complaining is tantamount to someone from Buffalo or Kansas City or someplace like that [complaining]”.
George Pickens grew up in the south, born in Alabama and went to Georgia for his college ball. I think we can reasonably guess he didn’t play a ton of games in the snow before. And that’s probably true for a lot of his teammates, as well. But Pittsburgh Steelers games will be subject to snow in November through February. And so will those of other teams the Steelers should have in mind.
“If you get to the playoffs, and you’re a road team, the likelihood is you’re gonna run into Buffalo, or Kansas City”, Smith said of the Steelers’ playoff path, addressing Pickens directly. “Well, what the hell do you think the weather’s gonna be like there? So I don’t want to hear that from him. Because no matter how true it might have been in terms of the inclement weather, you’re gonna have to deal with it a hell of a lot better”.
And here’s the rub: while it wasn’t nearly like Thursday night’s game, George Pickens has already played the Bills in Buffalo in a playoff game in which it snowed. They did a nice job of cleaning the field for the visiting Steelers, but I’m sure Pickens remembers the cold.
The thing with Pickens is he doesn’t have a thorough filter when he’s frustrated. Even if the Steelers struggled against the Browns because of the snow, that’s not something you say. For one thing, both teams had to play in the snow. For another, a Steelers team is supposed, in theory, to thrive in inclement weather conditions. And, once again, the Steelers may have to win in the snow on the road to have playoff success.
So if you can’t beat a 2-8 Browns team in the snow, how are the Steelers going to go into Kansas City against a 14-3 Chiefs team when the white stuff’s coming down? Would George Pickens blame the snowflakes after that game, too?
Sometimes you can be technically right but in the wrong for saying it. What George Pickens really did was identify a problem the Steelers have that they need to fix. If they lost to the Browns because of the snow, they need to find out how to win under the same conditions. Because they’re supposed to win those games, and they may have to, to end their playoff drought.
