2. George Pickens, Wide Receiver
George Pickens took quite the beating by the Steelers media entering Week 16... and honestly, he deserved the criticism he had coming. Video of Pickens completely abandoning his blocking assignments in Week 15 surfaced, and it was a terrible look for the young wide receiver. Instead of apologizing, Pickens tried to justify his actions while simultaneously blaming the media for how he was portrayed.
I was not a fan of the way the Pickens handled himself throughout the week. But I must admit that his performance against the Cincinnati Bengals in Week 16 helped silence the critics who believed he needed to be benched for disciplinary actions.
On the very first pass attempt of the night, Pickens took a deep post from Mason Rudolph for an 86-yard touchdown reception -- doing most of his damage after the catch as he blew past the secondary. But that wasn't his only huge touchdown reception in this contest. Pickens also raked in a 66-yard TD deep down the sidelines in the middle of the third quarter.
By the end of the day, George Pickens had the best performance of his young NFL career --catching 4 of 6 targets for 195 yards and 2 touchdowns. If he can play like this every week, fans won't give a hoot about his negative body language, lack of effort as a blocker, or disconnect with the Steelers media.