George Pickens terrible excuse for not blocking could force Steelers hand

The Pittsburgh Steelers' season is officially on the brink. Saturday's 30-13 loss to the Indianapolis Colts pushed the Steelers to 10th place in the AFC, a game behind the Bengals, Bills, Texans, and yes, Colts in a tight race for two Wild Card spots.

Mike Tomlin's squad has lost three straight. The Kenny Pickett injury has been as catastrophic as expected. Even without Matt Canada, the Steelers' offense can't seem to establish any positive momentum. The run game has cratered since Mitch Trubisky took over. Now, we will see if Mason Rudolph can put Pittsburgh back on the winning path.

He probably can't. Not to be glum, but Pittsburgh has been marred in offensive ineptitude all season, and the defense hasn't been nearly great enough to pick up the slack. The Steelers lucked into a few narrow wins early in the season and took far too long to address systemic issues, Canada-induced or otherwise.

There has also been an ongoing struggle to get the wide receivers to, you know, try. It has been a weird and inexplicable subplot to the Steelers' campaign. George Pickens is currently under the microscope (again) after he decided not to block for Jaylen Warren near the goal line on Saturday.

We are roughly two weeks removed from Pickens taking multiple plays off and getting roasted on the broadcast. Not great, Bob.

When asked why he didn't block, Pickens offered a response that is sure to satisfy roughly zero percent of the Pittsburgh fanbase (h/t Pittsburgh Tribune-Review)

"I was trying to prevent a Tank Dell situation. I didn’t want to get injured. When you stay in and block somebody, you can get run on very easily."

Steelers' George Pickens uses Tank Dell injury as excuse for low effort

It's hard to truly criticize a guy for basically saying "I don't want to get hurt." That's only human, and we can't rightfully say, "well, that's your job." But, it is the NFL, and Pickens won't find solace in the Steelers fandom. Football is a sport that requires physical sacrifices to be played at the highest level. If Pickens is going to shy away from contact in favor of self-preservation — and cost his team points in the process — he's going to quickly fall out of favor.

Houston Texans wideout Tank Dell did recently injure his ankle on a comparable blocking play near the goal line (although he was in a more trafficked area of the field than Pickens). Dell was carted off the field, which is a difficult image to stomach. Again, we can't necessarily blame Pickens for wanting to avoid dangerous situations.

Most notable is Pickens' sustained track record of these incidents. If this was his first low-effort play of the season, he might get a pass. Or at least a simple slap on the wrist. But, it's not. Pickens has been blowing blocking assignments and half-running routes on a frustratingly regular basis. At a certain point the Steelers will have to put their foot down and demand more consistent effort, lest Pickens lose his WR1 billing.

Mike Tomlin has openly addressed Pickens' poor effort and volatile attitude. It's a problem. If the Steelers miss the postseason and Pickens continues to actively hurt the team, the offseason could get interesting.