Rookie second round WR George Pickens was pouting, yelling, and otherwise carrying on during Sunday's game against Atlanta. Even though the Steelers led the entire game and won, that didn't matter to Pickens. He could be seen mouthing "Get me the f'in ball" during one of his temper tantrums.
This is a rookie who has yet to accomplish anything. I've watched the Steelers a fair amount this season, in part because I'm rooting for Kenny Pickett to succeed, and while Pickens has great body control and has made some very difficult receptions, that's about it. He often doesn't seem to be where Pickett expects him to be, and of course he doesn't use two hands when trying to catch the ball.
Reporters were gingerly asking him some questions today and he remained defiant and sullen. And good old Mike Tomlin defended him during his weekly press conference, instead criticizing those who were critical of Pickens.
Tomlin has to be the leading enabler of bad behavior in NFL history. The Steelers have drafted one receiver after another who has turned out to be a prima donna, a bonehead, or a criminal. Antonio Brown, Martavis Bryant, Juju Smith-Schuster, Diontae Johnson, Chase Claypool, and now Pickens. And RB Leveon Bell was worse than any of them other than Brown. And think of this circus going on during Pickett's rookie season rather than during the long reign of Big Ben, who was used to a-hole behavior even though he destested it. It couldn't be more selfish on Pickens' part.
Instead of demanding accountability and mature behavior from his players, Tomlin is forever just one of the boys. He knows he's almost impossible to fire so he does what he wants as the Steelers settle long-term into being just another run-of-the-mill NFL team.
To get back to one-handed catches, that has to be the most ridiculous discarding of a football fundamental yet. All MLB outfielders used to catch a baseball with two hands, meaning they caught it with their glove while using their other hand to close the glove, thus securing the catch. Willie Mays was the first notable baseball player to make one-handed catches and it very slowly but surely spread from there.
But catching a football with its oblate spheroid shape with bare hands is considerably more difficult than catching a baseball in a glove. I know the players use special gloves and some kind of super-stickem now, but come on, it's only common sense that two-handed attempts have less of a chance of being dropped than a one-handed attempt. The turning point would seem to be Odell Beckham's one-handed snag that was replayed over and over a billion times. Because after all it's more important to look and act cool than following the traditional technique that cuts down on drops.
