SCB Steelers Quick Hitters: The ‘By George’ Edition

Good Tuesday to you Steelers fans and welcome to the offseason.

Let’s talk about George Pickens first. Was he interfered with on that fourth down play? Absolutely he was. Was he right to be frustrated? Definitely. But let’s address his comments after the game where he said “you can’t play the Bills and refs too.” My biggest question is this; did anyone tell the young guys on this team that the postseason is different? Did they tell these young men that you aren’t getting the calls you may have gotten in the regular season? If those conversations never happened then that’s a failure on the veteran players and the coaching staff. The playoffs are a different animal. You aren’t getting calls unless they are so egregious that the officials have to call them. Ask the Eagles about this from the Super Bowl last year… As for Pickens, you don’t get to blame anyone man. You fumbled the ball away without even being hit in your own territory. If you want to talk about missed opportunities and the team not doing enough then that’s fine. Don’t make excuses though. Be better than that.

Tomlin

I shared my thoughts late last evening on Mike Tomlin following the loss and then his abrupt departure from his postgame press conference. I awoke this morning to a tweet from Gerry Dulac suggesting there was a reason he did that. Dulac is as connected as anyone to the Steelers but he’s also been wrong about some things too. Therefore, I’m not going to go too far down the rabbit hole here.

Quarterbacks

If you’ve paid attention to the first round of the NFL playoffs then you’ll notice one overwhelming factor. If you don’t have a horse at QB then you aren’t going very far. Mason Rudolph did a tremendous job getting the Steelers to the postseason. Should he choose to return he should be given every opportunity to be the starting QB. As for Kenny Pickett, he too will have the same chance to return to his starting role but there are questions to be answered. He was healthy those last couple of weeks and didn’t get his starting job back. There are plenty of “starting” QBs around the NFL who would have immediately been back under center once healthy. For all of the issues that surround this team, QB1 is the most important.

Free Agents

Here’s a list of current Steelers who are scheduled to hit free agency this spring. All are Unrestricted Free Agents unless otherwise noted. RFA = Restricted Free Agent, ERFA = Exclusive Rights Free Agent

Levi Wallace, Montravius Adams, Miles Killabrew, Markus Golden, Kwon Alexander, James Pierre, Armon Watts, Chandon Sullivan, Blake Martinez, Miles Boykin, Mason Rudolph, Mykal Walker, Chapelle Russell (RFA), Renell Wren (ERFA), Dylan Cook (ERFA), Elijah Riley

My take is I wouldn’t expect many of these guys back. The Steelers have to upgrade at key positions like nickel CB and in overall depth.

Thank You

As many of you know, this is a hobby for me. It’s a part-time job kind of hobby these days but I thoroughly enjoy it. If there comes a day when people stop reading and stop watching or listening to the podcast then I’ll know it’s time to move on. Until then, thank you to all of you who stop by here each day to gather my opinions, check out Ian’s WPIAL coverage (which is the best in all of PA) or whatever. You are appreciated!