‘Dog in Him’: George Pickens Seizes Downfield Opportunities vs. Ravens

PITTSBURGH — George Pickens called for the ball in Atlanta, and while he may not have received a crazy volume of targets against Baltimore, Pittsburgh looked his way four times with a high success rate. On the day, Pickens caught all three of his targets, racking up 78 yards in the process. The fourth ball thrown in his direction drew a pass interference on the Ravens.

Needless to say, it was a pretty successful day to be Pickens. But seeing those downfield targets, brought some confidence to a player that felt like he was reeling coming out of a game where there was next to nothing thrown his way. If Pittsburgh is to manage something down the stretch, it will have to be with Pickens heavily involved.

“It feels good,” Pickens said. “That’s kinda what we preach on offense. You just gotta execute those plays. Anytime you get the opportunity, you want to seize the moment.”

Marlon Humphrey saw Pickens for most of the day and allowed all of his receptions. Both Hoover High School graduates, Humphrey has seen Pickens around the block more than once. In fact, Humphrey even admitted that he was a liability on Twitter after the game as the Steelers went after him down the field. But Humphrey knew who he would be facing in Pickens, so it was no surprise to see Pickens go off as he did.

“He was burning me all day. I knew he was gonna be a good player, and I knew Pittsburgh would probably draft him,” Humphrey said “He’s a Pittsburgh guy. He just has a lot of dog, a lot of grit in him.”

Even with the standout game from Pickens, the Steelers still only put up a modest 14 points, failing to convert in the redzone time and time again. So, what needs to change? Mike Tomlin succinctly put the blame on turnovers as Trubisky threw two inside the Ravens’ 25-yard line.

“You just can’t turn the ball over, particularly in the nature of this match-up,” Tomlin said. “Usually, the team that turns the ball over in the red area is the team that loses. They’ve turned it over some in the red area in recent matchups and we’ve won those games. We turned it over in the red area in this one, so we lost this one.”

Pickens and Pittsburgh will look to bounce back against a surging Carolina Panthers team on Sunday.