Former Georgia star George Pickens experiences rookie growing pain with Pittsburgh Steelers

Former Georgia star George Pickens had some rookie growing pains this weekend, and on Wednesday, he addressed them.

Sort of.

Pittsburgh coach Mike Tomlin doesn’t think so, and he had Pickens’ back earlier this week when asked about his talented first-year receiver.

I’d rather say ‘Whoa’ than ‘Sic ‘em,” Tomlin said Tuesday, per the mlbb.com website.

“I want a guy that wants to be a significant part of what it is that we do. Now, the appropriate and professional and mature way to express that, we’re growing and working on, and we will continue to. But that spirit, that competitive spirit, the guy that wants the ball. I want that guy.”

Pickett, per Steelersdepot.com, recognizes that Pickens just wants to win.

“I mean, George (Pickens) is a competitor and that’s the thing about receivers,” Pickett said, “he only gets so many opportunities and that’s why we have to definitely take advantage of the little ones that we do get.

“And we’ll continue to push forward, like I said, work and we’ll hit the ones down the field and those guys will continue to make plays for us.”

Pickens said he’s no different than any other great receiver who wants the football.

“I feel like every player has that in them,” Pickens said. “I don’t want you guys to paint anybody in a different light ... Like I’ve said, it has happened with a lot of receivers in the past, it’s what you paint it out to be.”

Pickens does understand more teams will be looking to shut him down in the future, too.

“I can tell I play a bigger factor,” Pickens said. “Than other teams when we played them.”