Steelers likely to be without Pickens vs. Eagles

PITTSBURGH — The Steelers are likely to be without their top wide receiver for the second week in a row.

Mike Tomlin said Tuesday there’s an “outside chance” George Pickens plays against the Philadelphia Eagles on Sunday after an MRI revealed a “little bit more significant” hamstring injury than initially thought.

“We’re just in the mindset now of just getting him healthy as quickly as we possibly can,” Tomlin said. “There’s a potential for this week, but it’s an outside chance. If you press me, I’d probably say he’s out or could be characterized as doubtful as we sit here, but again, like we always do, we’ll go through the normal procedure, we’ll let participation be our guide in terms of availability and then obviously the quality of that participation.”

Pickens, who leads the Steelers with 850 receiving yards on 55 catches and has three touchdowns, felt discomfort in his hamstring following Thursday’s practice, Tomlin said, prompting him to limit Pickens’ participation on Friday.

“Wanted to save all those bullets for Sunday,” Tomlin said. “Wanted to see what he looked like when he got to the stadium and then make a determination of how many plays we thought would be appropriate to utilize him in. Obviously if he wasn’t going to be a full participant, we wanted to gear his participation toward weighty passing game moments.”

But it was apparent upon Pickens’ arrival to the stadium Sunday morning that his injury was “more significant” than expected.

“We made the prudent decision in terms of shutting him down and not allowing a small problem to become a bigger one,” Tomlin said.

Though Sunday’s game kicks off a gauntlet of three games in 11 days, including a divisional game in Baltimore on a short week and a Christmas day game hosting the Chiefs, Tomlin said the big picture of the Steelers’ upcoming slate and playoff aspirations didn’t lead him to take an extra cautious approach in determining Pickens’ availability against the Eagles.

“To be honest with you, no,” Tomlin said. “There’s enough things that have our attention in the here and now. We’ve kind of been in that posture all year. I don’t imagine that that would change, and so we’ll see where the week leads us.”

With Pickens likely sidelined, the Steelers will again turn to a collection of wide receivers including Scotty Miller, Van Jefferson and Mike Williams to absorb Pickens’ responsibilities. Jefferson caught his second touchdown of the season against the Browns, while Miller had a season-high three catches on four targets.

“Those guys might be new to us, but they’re not new to the National Football League,” Tomlin said. “They’re pros, man. They behave that way — whether you’re talking about Scotty Miller or Van Jefferson or Ben Skowronek, for that matter. [They’re] all guys who have been in the NFL man, and I just think you saw shades of that in their performance and the consistency of their performance last weekend.”