Steelers’ George Pickens: ‘Not gonna win a game when you have to play the refs and the Buffalo Bills’

ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. — In the postgame locker room after his second NFL season had just come to an end, George Pickens couldn’t bring himself to concentrate on much aside from the officiating during Monday’s playoff loss.

“I am still stuck on this game right now, with the refs,” Pickens said after his Pittsburgh Steelers lost to the Buffalo Bills. “Refs, refs, refs. That’s the only thing that’s really on my mind when it’s blatant like it was today.”

Pickens was fired up after a game in which many questioned a pair of calls on the Steelers’ defense (holding and unnecessary roughness calls on Myles Jack) during a fourth-quarter drive that ended with a Buffalo touchdown that proved the final scoring margin (31-17).

But what had Pickens most upset were two non-flags on Buffalo when former Pitt cornerback Dane Jackson was in coverage against him and appeared to impede his ability to catch the ball on two pivotal fourth-quarter plays.

One was a ball in the end zone with 12 minutes, 7 seconds left in which Pickens felt Jackson prevented him from making a play on the ball just inside the right out of bounds line. The other call that drew Pickens’ ire was one that, in effect, ended the game — a fourth-and-3 from the Steelers’ 32 with 4 minutes, 53 seconds left when Jackson grabbed Pickens on a slant and Pickens could not make the catch.

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“You are not gonna win a game when you have to play refs and the Buffalo Bills,” Pickens said. “That’s really what I feel like happened to us today, to be honest.

“I could see (if it was) contact down the field, ‘go’ ball, me pushing, him pushing, no call, big in, he’s low-hip, diving for the football, we both diving and making a play on the ball. But blatantly grabbing me?”

After the fourth-down no-call on Jackson, Pickens was especially incredulous. He made the motion of throwing a flag and turned in exasperation, one-by-one, to officials around the field, extending his arms outward in disbelief.

“The game was severely swayed in the other team’s way,” said Pickens, the Steelers’ leading receiver this season. “They got it wrong. It’s a clear flag.”

Pickens went on to say “politics” plays a rule in the NFL and how its games are officiated.

“It’s not got nothing to do with real ball or none of that,” he said.

“That’s the truth, bro. It’s the refs. The NFL is political. Put that in a quote.”

Pickens finished his first playoff game with five catches for 50 yards. He was targeted a game-high 11 times by Steelers quarterback Mason Rudolph. Pickens also had a 15-yard end-around run on the final play of the third quarter.

The Steelers fell behind 21-0 midway through the second quarter.

“We had a lot of time to come back, but when the refs are swayed against you at the Buffalo Bills’ stadium, it’s gonna be hard,” Pickens said.

“You can’t play (against an) NFL team and the refs. You can’t play a game of football when you’re trying to play the refs, too.”

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