George Pickens becoming security blanket on offense for Steelers, QB Kenny Pickett

Through the first five weeks of the season, Kenny Pickett has watched his pass-catching options fall like leaves from a tree in October.

He saw Diontae Johnson exit in a season-opening loss to San Francisco and land on injured reserve with a hamstring injury.

In a Week 4 loss at Houston, tight end Pat Freiermuth went down with his own hamstring issues.

Minus those two targets, Pickett lost another receiver for a brief period Sunday when Calvin Austin III was examined for a concussion.

Pickett, though, could find solace that one of his top threats still was on the field. And so, he turned to George Pickens twice on a drive that produced the go-ahead touchdown Sunday in the Pittsburgh Steelers’ 17-10 victory against the Baltimore Ravens.

First, Pickett and Pickens hooked up for 21 yards on a third-and-4 pass that set up the Steelers inside Ravens territory with the clock approaching the two-minute warning in the fourth quarter. And then the duo combined for the longest play of the game for the Steelers, Pickett’s arching 41-yard pass that Pickens cradled and took into the end zone for a touchdown with 1:17 remaining.

It was the only touchdown produced on the day by the Steelers — and their first since the third quarter of Week 3 — and provided a 14-10 lead.

“I think there’s no question in my faith in 14 and how much I believe in him, and I’m always giving him opportunities to make plays,” Pickett said after a win that improved the Steelers to 3-2 heading into their bye week. “That’s something I’ll continue to say, it’s what I’ve been saying since I got here and been playing with him. Unbelievably talented player who shows up at big-time moments, and I always want to give him those opportunities.”

Pickens finished with a game-high six catches against the Ravens. It’s illustrative that not only did he collect a career high in receiving yards with 130, nobody else on the Steelers had more than 39.

“I knew I would be a big factor,” Pickens said, “not knowing how big or how small a factor it would be. But, yeah, I knew I would probably play a significant role for sure.”

With Johnson and Freiermuth standing on the sidelines, it was imperative that Pickett get the ball to Pickens on Sunday.

“George had to have a big game,” coach Mike Tomlin said. “In these types of games, hotly contested, a lot of one-on-one matchups, we talked about it throughout the week.”

The Steelers were aware that, even though they would be playing without their top receiver and tight end, the Ravens liked to play Cover-0 in certain passing situations. The formation involves bringing the safety close to the line of scrimmage and leaving the outside receivers in single coverage.

That is precisely the alignment Pickett saw when he broke the huddle with the Steelers facing second-and-9 at the Ravens 41 with 1:23 left in the game. Pickett changed the protection at the line of scrimmage so he could have enough time to drop back and unleash a pass down the sideline for Pickens.

“If they go zero, we always have those answers, we can do certain things,” Pickett said. “We did a really good job of communicating today.”

It didn’t go unnoticed to Pickens that fellow Hoover (Ala.) High School alum Marlon Humphrey, a three-time Pro Bowl selection, was lined up across from him at cornerback. Despite his pedigree, Humphrey was returning from an injury and playing for the first time this season.

“It’s a guy I know personally, so it’s a little different,” Pickens said.

Humphrey understood the risks of being tasked with covering Pickens without help on the back end.

“You kind of get beat sometimes when you blitz the house, and that was one of those times,” he said. “Obviously, you don’t want to be on the other end of a game-winner, but it happens at the corner position.”

From his perspective, Pickens was surprised he didn’t see as much double coverage as he did the previous week at Houston when he was held to three catches for 25 yards in a 30-6 loss to the Texans.

Pickens also found himself in single coverage on the 21-yard receptions earlier in the drive.

“With the long speed I have and also the back-shoulder game, if they’re not doubling me, I’m a little surprised for sure,” Pickens said.

The plan worked to satisfaction, not just on the deep touchdown pass to Pickens but the way the Steelers wanted to make him the focal point with the game on the line.

“You never know how it’s going to play out, but that was the plan going into it,” Pickett said. “If we had a chance to get George one-on-one, we’ll take it. Sometimes they press, sometimes they did it in zero. And we got the perfect look for it down the stretch.”