Pittsburgh Steelers Steelers Gameday
Pat Freiermuth Gives Tribute to George Pickens After TD: ‘Someone Had to Get Fined’
Steelers tight end Pat Freiermuth pulled his best George Pickens impression after finding the end zone against the Browns.
PITTSBURGH — The Steelers made the surprising decision to rule out wide receiver George Pickens with a hamstring injury against the Cleveland Browns on Sunday, but tight end Pat Freiermuth did his best to make up for the big personality wide receiver’s absence.
Late in the third quarter, Freiermuth reeled in a 20-yard touchdown from Steelers quarterback Russell Wilson. Following the score, Freiermuth punted the football into the stands.
It was the type of celebration Steelers fans are used to seeing from Pickens, who would subsequently get fined, but since he was inactive, Freiermuth thought it was only right to give it his best impression.
“Someone had to get fined,” Freiermuth said. “It was a pretty good punt. I was a punter in high school. It was a pretty good punt. It had great hang time. It went to the second level.”
The Pickens’ news caught everyone by surprise. In fact, Freiermuth learned that his teammate wasn’t going to be playing from his dad.
“My dad texted me,” Freiermuth said. “He texted me and said, ‘G.P.’s down with a hamstring.’ I was like, ‘Okay, here we go.’ So, thanks dad.”
However, Freiermuth and the rest of the Steelers wide receivers filled in quite nicely, combining for 11 catches for 136 yards and two touchdowns.
The Steelers didn’t have a ton of time to adjust since many believed Pickens was going to be a part of the game plan, but Freiermuth revealed that offensive coordinator Arthur Smith decided to not change a thing.
“Didn’t change at all. We all had belief in everyone on the offense,” Freiermuth said. “It’s credit to the receivers in the receiver room. We have a lot of good players in there. They stepped up big time.”
The offense wasn’t pretty to watch at times, but it did enough to help the Steelers escape with the 27-14 victory and improve to 10-3.
Read This Next
