Steelers OC Matt Canada on Pickens: ‘George wants the ball’

Pittsburgh Steelers offensive coordinator recently addressed the George Pickens situation. He thinks his young receiver should be getting the ball more. 

We figured that, after the brief altercation on the sideline between George Pickens and the Pittsburgh Steelers coaching staff in Week 13, there would be a lot of questions pertaining to Pickens when coaches addressed the media this week. That certainly has proven to be the case.

After Mike Tomlin spoke with the media regarding Pickens during his Tuesday press conference, it was the offensive coordinator’s turn to address the situation on Thursday.

Pittsburgh media flooded Matt Canada with questions about George Pickens. The OC didn’t come straight out and condemn Pickens’ actions. Rather, he talked about finding the right way to express himself.

Perhaps the most important notes from his comments are that Canada made it clear that George Pickens wants the football, and he wants to give it to him. Here was his response to the Pickens incident this past Sunday, according to TribLIVE’s Chris Adamski:

"“George wants the ball. I want George to have the ball — same as everybody else. Sometimes the ball doesn’t find him. He will continue to learn and grow on how to talk about that and do those things. But the fact that George wants the ball, there’s nothing wrong with that. We just have to express it in the right way and work at it, and we’ll all keep working to do that. He’s a really, really good player. I have no issue with him wanting the ball.”"

Canada explained that sometimes the ball doesn’t find him, and essentially stated that Pickens needs to know how to talk and act when those things happen. However, there’s no question the Pittsburgh Steelers are going to try to get him the ball more often moving forward.

Steelers will try to get Pickens involved more often

To be fair to Pickens, the target distribution against the Atlanta Falcons was a little bit wild. I love seeing Pat Freiermuth rake in his looks, he was targeted just 5 times — turning his limited opportunities into 76 yards, per ESPN stats. However, Diontae Johnson hogged the market share will 11 targets. Sadly, this translated to just 60 yards and a pair of drops. No other pass catcher on the team (including Pickens) received more than two targets.

It’s easy to understand the frustration Pickens was dealing with, but the rookie wide receiver still needs to keep a clear head. By the sounds of it, Matt Canada is going to try to get him the ball more often. Of Pittsburgh’s top-three pass catchers this season, Pickens averaged the most yards per reception and yards per target of the group. Steelers quarterbacks have also had a 98.5 passer rating when throwing in his direction.

As of now, there’s no reason to stress about this being an issue down the line. I do think that the Steelers will make it a point to keep Pickens more involved while still having that heart-to-heart about how to handle things moving forward. Based on their comments this week Mike Tomlin and Matt Canada are certainly on the same page, and they want George Pickens to be an integral part of the offense moving forward.