Steelers' George Pickens Continues To Accuse The NFL Of Sabotaging Pittsburgh

The Pittsburgh Steelers fell to the Philadelphia Eagles on Sunday, and it was an embarrassing game for Pittsburgh. The Steelers looked like they just couldn't hang with the Eagles as they struggled severely on offense and defense. They didn't help themselves much during the game as there were a ton of self-inflicted wounds, but the referees seemed to be making calls in favor of Philadelphia. There were a couple of questionable calls that have sparked some debate throughout the world of sports since the end of the game.

The Steelers never once held the lead during this contest, which shows just how dominant the Eagles were. Even though there was some questionable officiating, Pittsburgh probably would have lost the game anyway. The team was outmatched and beat up. However there were some calls that seemed skewed. In the first quarter after the Steelers recovered a punt inside the red zone, Darnell Washington was blocking on a run play. He was blocking Darius Slay, who is much smaller, and he essentially blocked him out of the end zone and into the stands.

The block was a bit egregious from Washington, but he couldn't see the play behind him. He was just doing his job. Slay obviously didn't like it and threw punches at Washington, but he wasn't penalized. In fact, the Steelers received two flags on this play. One penalty went against Washington for his block, and the other came against Calvin Austin III for coming in and shoving a Philadelphia defender away from Washington. At the very least, there should have been off-setting penalties.

The officials were asked about this play following the game and the crew said that none of them saw punches thrown by any Eagles, which was clearly not the case. 

Wide receiver George Pickens was out for this game in Philadelphia, but he didn't hold back when commenting under a post on Instagram from the NFL On CBS with the video of Slay punching Washington.

"But we got flagged," Pickens wrote. "But y'all don't think it's a vendetta against the Steelers."

Pickens has been saying that the NFL has something against him and the Steelers as a whole. In the last game the third-year wide receiver played, he received two Unsportsmanlike Conduct penalties, and both were debated. There were also other questionable calls made against the Steelers during their loss to the Eagles, and Pickens has been critical over the calls the Steelers have received all season long.

Steelers Should Have Been Able To Make The Game Closer

Head Coach Mike Tomlin made a questionable decision to punt the ball away at just about mid-field while his team was down 14 points with just over 10 minutes remaining in the game. The Steelers never got the ball back, as the Eagles drained nearly the entire quarter on one drive. However, the Steelers should have gotten the ball back after an Unnecessary Roughness penalty was called against Jalen Carter.

Carter slapped Connor Heyward in the head during the play, which should have gave the Steelers a first down. However, the officials made another bad call and said the penalty came after the ball was punted, so it just backed up the Eagles' field position.

In the video, it can clearly be seen that the ball is punted after the contact from Carter is made on Heyward, which should have extended Pittsburgh's drive and given them a chance to put up points. The Steelers likely wouldn't have won the game, but it would have likely made the final score a bit more respectable.

What do you think about Pickens' comment? Let us know in the comments below!

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