Steelers' George Pickens Not A Big Concern At All To Jaguars "He Hasn't Played Our Corners Yet"

The Pittsburgh Steelers will face off against another tough opponent in Week 8 when the high-flying Jacksonville Jaguars come to Acrisure Stadium. The team, led by Head Coach Doug Pederson, and quarterback, Trevor Lawrence, will not be an easy group to go up against. Their offense is in the middle of the pack, averaging 336 yards per game, but as a whole, Pederson and co. are riding a four-game win streak. If Pittsburgh wants to come out on top, their often-questioned offense will have to keep up with the pace that the Jaguars play with.

The Jaguars are in the bottom half of the league when it comes to total defense as the unit is averaging over 350 yards per game to opposing teams, however, both teams are only allowing around 21 points per game. Jacksonville's Achilles heel has been their pass defense. They currently sit at 31st in the NFL, giving up over 273 yards per game through the air.

Throwing for a ton of yards hasn't been seen quite often from Steelers' second-year quarterback, Kenny Pickett. If he is going to put up big numbers in Week 8, he is going to need look to someone other than George Pickens, according to Jaguars safety, Rayshawn Jenkins. Speaking to the media on Wednesday, he said the defense is aware of Pickens, but he's not concerned at all.

"I know that receiver we have coming in this week, number 14; he has a high yards per catch. But, respectfully, he hasn't played our corners yet. So, I'll say that."

Tyson Campbell (who is currently questionable for Sunday's matchup), Darious Williams and Tre Herndon are Jacksonville's top three corners in 2023. They have been picked apart by several signal-callers, and allowed 280 or more passing yards in five of their seven games. As a whole, the Jaguars are the fourth-best run defense in the league. Pickett might have to air the ball out to come up with a victory.

Pickens is going to have to be a big part of a potential passing attack in Week 8. It was interesting that Jenkins was focusing on him despite Diontae Johnson being back in the lineup. The duo being fully healthy is going to make it extremely hard for any defense to hone in on one of them. They combined for 10 catches and 186 yards in a Week 7 win over the Los Angeles Rams.

Jenkins continued to speak on his team's upcoming matchup and insinuated that they have a plan in place to effectively take certain key players out of the game on Sunday.

"We're smart enough to know where the key guys are and how to take those guys out of the game plan," Jenkins said via Jacksonville Radio station 1010XL.

This will be one of the Steelers toughest tasks to date and it shouldn't be surprising if they are daring Pickett to throw he ball. It could be difficult to get things going on the ground against a unit that is averaging just over 80 yards per game to opposing rushing attacks. Pittsburgh hasn't historically gotten out to quick starts in the Matt Canada era, so if the goal is to establish the run game, the Steelers are going to need to uncharacteristically go up early.

Steelers Have A Ton On The Line In Week 8

Pittsburgh somehow boasts a record of 4-2, despite poor offensive performances for the majority of the season. Getting a win against Jacksonville and improving to, not just 5-2 overall, but 4-1 in the AFC would be a huge positive heading into November. Pickens now has some bulletin board material to go off of, and don't be surprised if the Steelers quietly have their best performance of the season on the offensive side of the ball.

Do you think that Pickens is set up to have a third straight game with 100 or more receiving yards? Let us know in the comments below!

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