The Pittsburgh Steelers are wildly inconsistent this year, and yet their end result seems like it will still be consistent with that of previous years. The Steelers have gone from 4-1 to 5-4 and seem destined for another nine- or 10-win season with a first-round exit in the playoffs.
To Kay Adams, that’s something she doesn’t want to see. She believes the Steelers have essentially lost hope for the season, and she doesn’t want to see them in the playoffs anyway.
“If I’m the Steelers, we should never have traded George Pickens, and our season, in my head, that’s it for them. They should have kept both [Pickens and DK Metcalf] somehow. I don’t feel good about the Steelers right now,” Adams said Thursday on her Up & Adams show. “And I also don’t want to get into a situation where they get in [playoffs], and they’re boring and get kicked out. This is like the story of them in the playoffs. I’m not into it.”
On the surface, keeping Pickens seems like a good idea. Even if only to give DK Metcalf another player to take some pressure off him. Pickens is thriving in that second receiver role in Dallas, getting plenty of good looks as CeeDee Lamb takes attention away from him. In a perfect world, Pickens could have found something similar with Metcalf in Pittsburgh.
But once Metcalf was acquired that was never going to happen. The Steelers weren’t going to give big money to two receivers without a stable quarterback situation. Pickens wasn’t going to be extended, and wasn’t the easiest to deal with during his time here either. His talent would have complemented the offense greatly, but there were reasons behind the trade.
Unfortunately, his talent leaving the offense has hurt. Calvin Austin III has been too inconsistent for the WR2 role and Roman Wilson is still ascending. The tight end room has been good, but none of those players are that explosive. At the very least, having Pickens on the field would prevent teams from constantly having two defenders over Metcalf. It’s just hard for him to succeed when defenses are playing him like this in the end zone.
While the Steelers are still frustratingly above average but not great, they are capable of beating top teams. They have wins over 9-2 New England and 8-2 Indianapolis, two of the top teams in the NFL. However, they’ve also lost to teams like Cincinnati and squeaked by the New York Jets.
If this team can win its division, the playoffs are probably in store. Then, it just comes down to whatever version of the Steelers we end up getting. At their best, they can hang with the class of the NFL. But at their worst, we may see more of the same when it comes to their playoff fortunes.
Recommended for you