Before we get into today’s entry, there are a couple items I want to address in the world of sports. Juan Soto signed a 15 years, $765 million deal with the New York Mets last night—unfortunately, the Pirates’ hypothetical offer of 765 years, $15 million was not quite enough to convince one of the hottest free agents in the history of professional sports to join the likes of Ke’Bryan Hayes and Joey Bart on the 2025 Buccos roster. 

The money that is spent in baseball is obscene. Soto turned down $760 million over 16 years from the Yankees, for whom he played last season. Of course, let us not forget that the Dodgers signed Shohei Ohtani to a ten-year, $700 million contract last winter, albeit with $680 million of that money deferred until after the contract expires. 

I would be interested to know if organizations in smaller markets—the Pirates, Brewers, and Reds, for instance—have spent $765 million on player contracts in the entirety of their existences. This past World Series between the Dodgers and Yankees, which featured two of the higher payrolls in Major League Baseball, was an indictment of the financial imbalance in a sport with neither a salary cap nor a salary floor, as it becomes increasingly difficult for ball clubs with inferior television deals, fanbase sizes, and other marginalizing factors to contend for pennants. 

Earlier in the day, the University of Alabama (deservingly) was omitted from the College Football Playoff, in favor of an 11-2 Southern Methodist University team that roared back from 17-points down against Clemson in the ACC Championship game, only to lose on a 56-yard field goal as the clock struck triple-zeroes. 

Alabama went 9-3, with losses to Tennessee (who made the College Football Playoff), a 6-6 Vanderbilt team, and a 6-6 Oklahoma team. They did have good wins over Georgia (the second-overall seed in the playoff), LSU on the road, and South Carolina, but those two losses to sub-par SEC opponents ultimately did them in. Granted, SMU did not have the toughest schedule, which Alabama fans made their main argument. “Why should we schedule tough games if strength-of-schedule is not a priority?”

I would tell Alabama that, outside of the SEC, they did not schedule any tough games. Their non-conference schedule consisted of matchups at home against Western Kentucky, South Florida, Mercer, and a road game against Wisconsin, who finished 12th in the Big Ten. The portion of the schedule that the school could control was weak, so the argument, naturally, followed suit. 

Between the College Football Playoff reveal and the Juan Soto signing, my main event occurred—the Steelers hosted the Browns in a rematch of the Thursday Night Football snow-game loss that happened 17 days prior. 

The circumstances were very different from the last matchup—there was no precipitation, edge rusher Alex Highsmith was returning from a multi-week absence (the Steelers were undefeated when he appeared in a game entering Sunday), and the seats in the stadium were painted yellow. The Browns were coming off a heart-breaking loss on Monday Night Football in Denver, and the Steelers’ offense had just handed Cincinnati a beating seven days earlier. 

I must admit that I felt pretty confident that the Steelers would improve to 10-3, which was concerning, seeing as I am an eternal pessimist—plus, division games are never easy. Sensing this, the football gods decided that, on Friday, George Pickens—who is one of, if not the most irreplaceable offensive players on the roster—would tweak his hamstring, rendering him questionable for Sunday’s game. 

It still seemed like Pickens would play, though, whether it would be in a limited capacity or otherwise. ESPN’s Adam Schefter tweeted at 12:31am yesterday, “Steelers WR George Pickens, listed as questionable for Sunday due to a hamstring injury, is expected to play vs. the Browns but the team wants to test him pre-game to make sure he’s good to go considering he hurt it late in the week, per source.” That was welcome news to which I awakened. I certainly did not want to imagine what the Steelers’ passing attack would look like without the man who is, by far, their best receiver. 

11 hours and 4 minutes later, Schefter tweeted again, using a mere five words. “George Pickens is inactive today.” He would expand on the decision for Pickens to not play exactly twenty minutes later, tweeting, “George Pickens intended to play today vs. the Browns, but after conversations this morning, the Steelers decided to take a long-term view and not risk the hamstring injury that he suffered at the end of the week. Thus Pickens is inactive.”

Those notifications, along with my father’s initial text stating, “Pickens out”—to which I simply replied, “NOOOO”—certainly took the wind out of my sails. How would Russell Wilson and the offense do without their number one receiver? How would they do without their best deep threat, their safety valve, their run-after-catch monster, their bail-out on broken plays?

The answer to that question? Not great. The offense, particularly the passing game, was poor—especially in the first half. The only thing worse than Arthur Smith’s third-down play calling, which seemed to be almost exclusively throwing deep passes along the sideline despite not having George Pickens on the field, was the execution of those plays. 

In the first quarter, the Steelers had three third-downs. A third-and-three, a third-and-six (which was originally a third-and-one before an illegal formation penalty), and a third-and-one. These were the results, in order, per the Bleacher Report play-by-play:

• Pass incomplete deep left intended for Mike Williams
• Pass incomplete short middle intended for Jaylen Warren
• Pass incomplete deep left intended for [no one]. PENALTY on Russell Wilson, intentional grounding. 

On the three third-downs, the Steelers netted negative-11 yards, despite only needing a combined ten yards across the three plays. 

They were able to score a touchdown, thanks to Jameis Winston’s propensity to turning the ball over giving the Steelers a short field. Najee Harris’s 1-yard plunge capped off a short 31-yard drive. 

Similar to the game against the Ravens in mid-November, the Steelers were the beneficiaries of a bad opposing kicker. Dustin Hopkins missed a 38-yard field goal at the end of the first half to cut the lead to 3 points, but it instead ended up being a 13-7 Pittsburgh lead after thirty minutes. Hopkins would also miss a 43-yarder on the opening drive of the second half, which the Steelers would convert into seven points via a Van Jefferson touchdown. 

Ultimately, the Steelers were victorious, winning 27-14. They were out-gained by Cleveland, 300-267. Russell Wilson only threw for 158 yards without #14, completing a mere 57.7% of his passes (1.1% above expected, per NextGenStats). Najee Harris only averaged 3.3 yards per carry on 16 totes (but did score a touchdown), while Jaylen Warren ran for 52 yards on 9 rushes. 

In Pickens’ absence, the receiving yards were distributed. Pat Freiermuth was the leading receiver…with 48 yards. Eight players caught passes, with none of them eclipsing the 50-yard plateau. 

Despite the win—which has the Steelers at 10-3 and two full games above Baltimore for first place in the AFC North—there is concern to be had. Beginning Sunday, Mike Tomlin’s team has three games in a ten-day stretch: at Philadelphia (11-2), at Baltimore (8-5), and home against Kansas City (12-1). 

This concern is further exacerbated by what Gerry Dulac of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette said today regarding George Pickens. Per Steelers Depot’s transcript of Dulac’s appearance on WDVE, “[Pickens] has a Grade 2 hamstring injury, which, that’s typically two weeks…so I don’t think they’re expecting him to play in Philadelphia either…”

Winning in Philadelphia against Saquon Barkley and the Eagles was going to be a difficult-enough task at full-health. Removing Pickens from the equation makes the mountain almost insurmountable, especially with the way the offense performed yesterday. 

George may cause headaches for Steelers fans with his on-field antics, but there is no doubt that he is crucial to the success of this team and their ability to win games, especially as the postseason approaches. Without him, something is clearly missing on offense, and everything becomes disjointed. 

If Pickens’ injury could be aggravated against Philly, it is obviously a smart idea to not play him, especially in a non-conference game—it is vital to have him for the games against Baltimore and Kansas City. Regardless, his likely absence on Sunday afternoon poses a humongous obstacle as the Steelers travel to the hellhole known as Lincoln Financial Field.