First Call: Ben Roethlisberger on George Pickens' sideline sulking; 2 surprising Steelers on ESPN's 'overrated' list

In Wednesday’s “First Call,” Ben Roethlisberger gives his reaction to the sideline histrionics of Pittsburgh Steelers receiver George Pickens. ESPN is calling Minkah Fitzpatrick and T.J. Watt overrated. And while one former Pirates star has a new home, another may be on the move once again.

Seen this fish before

Former Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger knows what it’s like to have to feed a lot of mouths in an offensive huddle.

So when Kenny Pickett pretty clearly pumped a pass to George Pickens for his only catch of Sunday’s game in Atlanta — after Pickens was caught by cameras pouting on the sideline — Roethlisberger empathized with rookie quarterback Kenny Pickett and coordinator Matt Canada.

“I guarantee what just happened,” Roethlisberger said on his most recent episode of the “Footbahlin’ with Ben Roethlisberger” podcast. “They threw a little (2)-yard completion to him. That is a prototypical offensive coordinator trying to keep a guy happy. They threw him a 3-yard pass to try to keep him happy. We would do that to guys, hey we have to do something so and so is mad, he is fighting with everybody, we gotta throw a screen. You would do anything to get him the ball and that’s what just happened. Some guys that would be good, but we’ll see.”

Remember, this is a guy who had to keep the likes of Antonio Brown, Martavis Bryant, Le’Veon Bell, Plaxico Burress and Hines Ward happy over his career. That’s a lot of footballs to go around. So Big Ben certainly knows of what he is talking about on this front.

Do the numbers lie?

Steelers Pro Bowlers Minkah Fitzpatrick and T.J. Watt have been called overrated in an ESPN.com post. Seth Walder was part of an effort to cultivate feedback from the analytics departments of 21 NFL teams on various topics.

One of them asked to identify players who were “generally overrated based on your quantitatively informed opinions.”

No explanation was given for why Watt was on the list. But the staffer who selected Fitzpatrick compared him to Seahawks safety Jamal Adams.

“He’s better than Adams but I feel like Fitzpatrick is just very chaotic. He has a lot of great flash plays, but I think he’s out of position and making mistakes too much. I think his grades are always … a lot lower than what the scouts are saying about him,” a staffer said, referencing their team’s in-house quantitative grades.

I’d argue that’s in large part because Fitzpatrick has been asked to do a lot more in the middle-third of the defense in recent years, as opposed to when he was first acquired from the Miami Dolphins playing centerfield and erasing the deep middle of the field.

Then perhaps his grades were underrating him because the ball rarely came his way.

And if Watt is overrated, I’d like to see where/how he’s been dubbed overrated if injury is not being taken into account.

Former Steeler running back James Conner was also on the list. No Steelers were on the “underrated” list.

More sports

• Tim Benz: Mike Tomlin's deaf ear to criticism of George Pickens shows he's not listening to his quarterbacks either
• Mark Madden: The Steelers could win out, but the season's a lost cause anyway
• Pirates 'incredibly excited, honored' to win inaugural lottery for No. 1 overall pick in 2023 MLB Draft

Just keep movin’

Former Pirate Andrew McCutchen could be on the move to another franchise.

Again.

According to ESPN’s Buster Onley, after playing for the Milwaukee Brewers last year, ’Cutch may end up in Tampa Bay or in Los Angeles with the Dodgers.

The Dodgers and Rays have interest in former MVP Andrew McCutchen, who is 52 hits away from 2,000 for his career, and 13 homers away from 300.

— Buster Olney (@Buster_ESPN) December 6, 2022

In over 580 trips to the plate in 2022, McCutchen hit .237 with a .316 on-base percentage and a .384 slugging percentage for Milwaukee. Since being traded from Pittsburgh to the San Francisco Giants in 2018, McCutchen has played with the Yankees, Phillies and Brewers.

Landing in Cleveland

Another former Pirates slugger is heading to the American League. MLB Network’s Jon Heyman reports that Josh Bell is joining the Cleveland Guardians via free agency.

Josh Bell to Guardians. $33M, 2 years. Opt out.

— Jon Heyman (@JonHeyman) December 6, 2022

The former Pirates first baseman seemed to confirm that on Twitter.

THE LAND!!!!

— Joshua Bell (@JBell_19) December 6, 2022

Bell hit .301 with 14 home runs for the Washington Nationals prior to the trade deadline last year. Then he was largely a bust after being dealt to San Diego. He had just three home runs and 14 RBIs while hitting .192 for the Padres.

He was 9 for 36 with two homers and 12 strikeouts in the postseason for the Padres.

Also, Jesse Rogers of ESPN.com reports that former Pirates ptcher Jameson Taillon is headng to the Chicago Cubs for $68 million over four years.