Steelers' Mike Tomlin Clearly Not Pleased With Receivers Extracurricular Activity In Week 7 Win

The Pittsburgh Steelers finally showed some more consistent offensive ability in Week 7 against the Los Angeles Rams, with George Pickens and Diontae Johnson making their marks in the passing game. Even with Johnson's return helping the Steelers get more movement on offense, there are still plenty of things to work on for the group. Mike Tomlin addressed some of the concerns for the team in his post-game press conference, and while he didn't name any names, it was pretty clear that he wanted to clean up some decision-making issues with his receiving core. 

Before taking any questions, Tomlin addressed a few things, including the emotional aspect of the game. While the Steelers won, there is still a lot to work on.

"Obviously, we got to clean up some things from a management of our emotions [perspective]."

Pickens had a couple of moments in the game where he went too far in general. He wiped out a first-and-goal with a very unnecessary crackback block. After that play, the cameras panned to Tomlin trying to calm Pickens down. The drive stalled after that, but they did convert a 53-yard field goal. 

Pickens also got in the face of a Rams defender after a big catch and first down, which resulted in a taunting penalty that backed the Steelers up. Luckily, the Steelers were able to recover and drive for the go-ahead touchdown on that drive. Pickens has some history with being unable to keep his emotions in check, and it flared up there. 

Pickens wasn't the only one, however. Johnson negated a big third down conversion right before the two-minute warning. Akhello Witherspoon, formerly on the Steelers, was called for pass interference. That foul ended up offsetting after Johnson was flagged for taunting. Luckily, the Steelers were able to convert a 4th-and-1 to seal the game. 

While those last two penalties ended up not hurting the Steelers too much, it still needs to be controlled. Just because it didn't affect this game too much doesn't mean it won't affect future games. If they play with fire too much, those penalties could kill drives and, potentially, games. It's great to see the fire inside them, but they still have to learn to control it better. Tomlin knows this, too.

"I would much rather say 'woah' then 'sic 'em.'"

That fire, competitiveness, and desire to win is always great to see, but they just need to know how to let that fire out, as well as when to do so. It's still better than questioning if they want to play or wondering if they're unhappy, but as long as it can get better, it should. Tomlin knows this as well. He was asked about how Tomlin would address this to his players and what his message would be. He gave a very typical Tomlin answer on the subject.

"Grow. Grow. Learn, and grow. I'm talking about as we move forward. There's nothing we can do about what transpired today...but we can learn from our experiences if we're professional, and it's reasonable to expect that to happen."

What happened has happened. Tomlin has had issues keeping Pickens' emotions in check, but he still needs to try to make Pickens be a better player mentally. If he keeps taking unnecessary penalties like this, then his ceiling will be very limited, as there's always the chance that a big play could be called back due to a penalty. 

Steelers' Pickens Knows Opponents Are Using His Passion Against Him

Pickens was also asked about the emotional aspect of the game, as well as how he can improve on that himself. He knows that teams will be looking to use his emotions against him. 

"A game like this showed me that they're kind of looking for me, try to mess up, and guys are trying to antagonize me more. Today's the first day I've seen anything like that. Guys are really trying to get me out of the game or get under my skin deliberately. All I can really say is keep fighting hard."

Now that Pickens knows that people try to exploit his emotions as a weakness, hopefully he will be able to keep that in mind. Even if he has to use pure spite to keep calm, it's still better than lashing out and getting penalized, ejected, fined, or even suspended. There's still a lot to fix in that game besides the emotions, but once everyone gets that in check, especially Pickens, they can reach yet another level of efficiency. 

What do you think about the comments from both Mike Tomlin and George Pickens on the emotional aspect of the game? Let us know in the comments.

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