The Pittsburgh Steelers' offense was humming during their Week 1 win over the New York Jets. More importantly, the offense looked great even without George Pickens, who was traded to the Dallas Cowboys over the offseason.
It wasn't a surprise that Pickens was shipped off to another team in the offseason. The Steelers were tired of dealing with his dramatic antics, and now he's the Cowboys' problem, something that the coaches are realizing slowly but surely.
In the Cowboys' Week 1 loss to the Philadelphia Eagles, Pickens was flagged for grabbing Reed Blankenship around the neck and throwing him to the ground. For Steelers fans, seeing this was nothing new, but this is the new reality for the Cowboys as they adjust to life with Pickens on their roster.
When asked about the incident, first-year Cowboys head coach Brian Schottenheimer didn't hold back when slamming his talented player.
"We talked about it. We approach all things like that. He came in too high and slung the guy down, and it was a good penalty [call]…We just talked about it. You can't hurt the team. And I love the physicality that George plays with, but all of us, you can't do stupid s***. And I'm not saying that was the only stupid thing that we did, but like things that hurt the team like that, you can't do that, especially in the red zone.”
The Dallas Cowboys are now living the same George Pickens headache the Pittsburgh Steelers endured
This quote makes Steelers fans feel like they're experiencing déjà vu. It's hard to keep track of all of these similar instances during Pickens' time in Pittsburgh, and seeing another team now have to deal with the headache that is the George Pickens experiment is a huge weight off the Steelers' shoulders.
Fortunately, Pickens is now Schottenheimer's problem to deal with and not Mike Tomlin's. No matter how talented the guy was, eventually there's only so much an organization can handle, and Pickens became expendable. While it's only been one game without Pickens, the Steelers' offense looked fine without him, so that's also a plus.
Enjoy the drama, Cowboys fans.