Hall of Famer fuels Steelers infighting with direct shot at George Pickens

George Pickens has not exactly been the easiest of manages from the perspective of Pittsburgh Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin. There's never been any denying the prodigious talent of the former second-round pick out of Georgia but, at the same time, it's been equally apparent that his antics can be costly. So it only figures that, as the Steelers come off of a brutal Christmas Day loss to the Chiefs and appear to be taking shots at teammates now that Pickens is involved.

While comments from the likes of DeShon Elliott and Cam Heyward may have been more directly aimed at other defensive players, there's also a read that some of their comments on players doing their jobs in Pittsburgh could've been aimed at Pickens. Hall-of-Famer Terrell Owens, however, was a bit more direct in taking a shot at Pickens.

Quoting a Bleacher Report graphic featuring Heyward's quote about the one guy out of 11 on the field not doing his job, Owens chimed in on the conversation and blasted Pickens.

In particular, Owens said that the concept of one player not doing his job costing the team also applied to the offense before saying, "When you got #14 not running his routes causing INTs".

And it doesn't take Sherlock Holmes to ascertain what Owens was referring to.

Terrell Owens calls out George Pickens for hanging Steelers, Russ out to dry

Near the end of the first quarter while the Steelers were trailing 13-0, Russell Wilson had the offense driving down the field for a potential answer as they got into scoring territory. Pickens, however, was not the primary read on the second-and-14 passing play and, as such, didn't run his route. That allowed Chiefs safety Justin Reid to cheat off of his assignment in the secondary and pick off the Wilson pass intended for Pat Freiermuth in the end zone.

Nate Tice of Yahoo! Sports caught the moment perfectly.

Pickens' sporadic effort is nothing new but it's also not often that we see it negatively affect the Steelers offense so egregiously. This was a clear inflection point of the Christmas Day game that could've swung some momentum back in Pittsburgh's favor. Instead, it kept the game as a two-score affair and the Steelers ultimately never recovered.

Pittsburgh is obviously not new to enigmatic pass-catchers, nor Tomlin in having to deal with them. Antonio Brown, Martavis Bryant, Diontae Johnson and many others have been in those locker rooms over the years. The talent has always been there but it's a balance of risk and reward. Pickens is the next in that line but plays like this one just can't happen.

Now on the losing end of three straight games and having lost control of the AFC North race, the Steelers can't afford enigmatic behavior to take over. That's especially true when there's infighting elsewhere right now in the locker room. Owens is right to call it out but, in doing so, he brings to light that things might be crumbling quite rapidly for Pittsburgh down the stretch and heading into the postseason.