PITTSBURGH — Pittsburgh Steelers wide receiver George Pickens played just 34 of the team’s 57 offensive snaps in Sunday’s 20-17 loss to the Dallas Cowboys at Acrisure Stadium. Both Van Jefferson (46 snaps) and Calvin Austin III (44 snaps) got more playing time than Pickens did, and the Steelers’ star wideout spent one entire series early in the second half on the bench. Tomlin explained the absence of his young star, saying that they were attempting to get the most of Pickens by playing him less often.
“We just wanted to minimize his reps in an effort to get more productivity,” Tomlin said. “We’re just trying to rep manage in terms of the totality of the big picture. He wasn’t less of a focal point in terms of our intentions of what we wanted to do offensively.”
Asked if there was something that Pickens wasn’t doing that he was supposed to be, Tomlin said no.
“It’s no different than we minimize some of the snaps of D-linemen like Cam Heyward,” Tomlin said. “It’s just about snap management. There’s no underlying story, to be quite honest with you.”
Pickens was targeted seven times, making three catches for 26 yards. He had 29 targets over the first four games. Pickens did not speak with the media after the game for the fifth consecutive week.
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