The Pittsburgh Steelers might have made a mistake with George Pickens.
Pickens is in the midst of the best season of his career. After posting 88 receiving yards in the Week 13 win over the Kansas City Chiefs, the former second-round pick is now up to 1,142 on the season, which surpasses his career-best mark of 1,140, a total he reached in his second season.
Pickens isn't simply putting up big numbers, though, as he's also coming up with clutch plays when it matters most for Dallas.
As if the trade with the Cowboys could not look worse for the Steelers, Pickens is now out-producing the Steelers' entire wide receivers room before Pittsburgh takes the field for its Week 13 matchup against the Buffalo Bills on Sunday.
Steelers wide receivers have tallied 1,082 receiving yards this season, which is 60 less than Pickens has by himself. Of course, Pittsburgh's group could pass Pickens on Sunday, but the fact he's even close is jaw-dropping in and of itself.
Context is important here when thinking about the Steelers trading Pickens during the offseason.
After all, he was a problem for Pittsburgh and things had gotten to a point where they seemed to be too far gone to fix and he was a problem in the locker room.
Our gripe isn't with the reason behind the trade, but rather Pittsburgh's utter failure to get Pickens in line and salvage the relationship to keep him with the team.
Had the Steelers been able to do that, they would have a fantastic one-two punch at wide receiver and maybe their offense wouldn't be operating in the stone ages like it has been this season, although that's even debatable with offensive coordinator Arthur Smith calling the plays, but I digress.
It's pretty clear the Cowboys aren't having anywhere near the same kinds of issues the Steelers had with Pickens and that's an indictment on head coach Mike Tomlin and the team's coaching staff.
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