The Pittsburgh Steelers have been hit with a devastating blow on the offensive side of the ball during the most crucial point of the 2024 season. With an incredibly difficult schedule ahead, top play-maker George Pickens showed up on the injury report with a hamstring injury the Friday before a Week 14 contest against the Cleveland Browns. He ended up missing the game, and is expected to be out longer than originally expected. This could provide to be a crucial absence as the team attempts to not just clinch a spot in the playoffs, but the AFC North and a postseason matchup at home.
Fans were originally concerned when Pickens popped up on the injury report, but many believed his limited participation in Friday's practice before the Cleveland game was just the team being cautious. Many were shocked when he was inactive for the contest, but more suspicion starting flying around after it was reported that the injury was believed to be worse than originally thought.
Mark Kaboly joined The Pomp and Joe Show on Wednesday to cut the state of the Steelers as the franchise prepares to take on the Philadelphia Eagles. The insider, who is much more aware of what goes on behind closed doors than most, expressed complete and utter confusion about the approach that Pittsburgh took to Pickens and his injury.
"Do you know that they got to walk about, uh, 200 to go get an MRI at any time," Kaboly noted. "I'm not quite sure if any other organization on the planet has that accessibility to MRIs. Usually, they take advantage of that. I mean, any time somebody has, you know, a sneeze, they'll send somebody over to have an MRI, so I don't quite get why they didn't send him Thursday after practice. I have no idea."
No one is doubting that Pickens in dealing with some kind of ailment, but Kaboly's points more so focus on the questionable calls made by the training and coaching staffs during this time. Giving a fan base hope that all was okay with the star wideout, and then coming back to say that it could be more serious is a complete lack of communication.
Kaboly went into some more detail about how the process typically works for the Steelers when it comes to injuries that can be diagnosed with an MRI. He seemed relatively shocked that the franchise decided not to get Pickens one as soon as possible, given the fact that it has always been very careful with players dealing with soft tissue injuries.
"Maybe they just thought that it wasn't that bad and even if, the history says that they err on the side of caution so many times when it comes to an MRI to go over there for a half hour and find out. I mean, that's how they find out the severity of these things, so something doesn't all add up. I'm not saying it's a conspiracy."
Time will tell if Pickens will be good to go before January or not, but Kaboly did suggest that the team should hold its top pass-catcher out until the postseason. The biggest issue with that is the group is still attempting to win the division, and being without a dynamic play-maker on offense could significantly affect the chances of having a playoff game at home.
Steelers Need Pickens Healthy As Fast As Possible
Pittsburgh will be able to get by with strong defense and veteran leadership, but those two things will only take the team so far. When any organization is without its best player on offense, digression is expected. If the Steelers want to make a true run at another Super Bowl, one of the key parts of that will be Pickens. His health will be critical moving forward.
