{"id":1578005,"date":"2024-01-16T11:53:48","date_gmt":"2024-01-16T16:53:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sports7.us\/?p=1578005"},"modified":"2024-01-16T11:53:49","modified_gmt":"2024-01-16T16:53:49","slug":"george-pickens-officials-referees-nfl-political-bills-steelers-rigged","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sports7.us\/news\/george-pickens-officials-referees-nfl-political-bills-steelers-rigged\/","title":{"rendered":"Steelers Wide Receiver George Pickens Alludes To The Idea That Referees Rigged Bills' Playoff Win Because NFL Is &#8216;Political'"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1600\" height=\"900\" src=\"https:\/\/sports7.us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/george-pickens-nfl-referee-officials-rigged-political-steelers-bills-wild-card.jpg?w=1024&amp;h=576&#038;strip=all&#038;quality=89\" alt=\"George Pickens NFL Referees Officiating Political\" class=\"wp-image-1578008\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Pittsburgh Steelers wide receiver George Pickens is not happy with NFL officiating after his team's Wild Card loss to the Buffalo Bills on Monday afternoon. He alluded to the idea that the referees might have rigged the game in favor of the home team because Josh Allen's rematch against the Kansas City Chiefs will draw better ratings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Pickens, a former second round NFL Draft pick out of Georgia, finished his second year in the league with 1,140 receiving yards and five touchdowns in 2023\/24. It was a strong year despite consistent frustrations surrounding the Steelers offense.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Some of those issues boiled over during an angry tantrum during the playoffs that led Pickens to throw his helmet at the bench on the sideline.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Pickens is pissed <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/qzcplXHyjI\">pic.twitter.com\/qzcplXHyjI<\/a><\/p>&mdash; Matthew (@HildenbrandMa) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/HildenbrandMa\/status\/1747053101960372303?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">January 16, 2024<\/a><\/blockquote><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Even though the team had its struggles, Pickens would have at least liked a fair chance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In his eyes, the officials prevented Pittsburgh from having a chance to beat the <a href=\"https:\/\/sports7.us\/tag\/buffalo-bills\/\"  rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Buffalo Bills<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p>Refs, refs, refs. That's the only thing that's really on my mind when it's blatant like it was today.<\/p>\n<cite>\u2014 George Pickens<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p>Pickens never <em>directly<\/em> said that the <a href=\"https:\/\/sports7.us\/tag\/nfl\"  rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">NFL<\/a> was out to get him and the <a href=\"https:\/\/sports7.us\/tag\/pittsburgh-steelers\/\"  rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Steelers<\/a>, but you can read between the lines.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;You are not gonna win a game when you have to play refs and the Buffalo Bills,&#8221; he said. &#8220;That's really what I feel like happened to us today, to be honest.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The 22-year-old spoke holistically to what he felt was poor officiating throughout all four quarters and referenced a few specific plays.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;When you're out there trying to make the plays you are personally and then they just take away calls,&#8221; Pickens continued. &#8220;Throwing a clear pass over Myles Jack's head. They called a P.I. It's not catchable. So just, politically, when guys go back and watch the game, watch the refs.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>And then he dropped the line of the night.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p>&#8220;it's got nothing to do with real ball or none of that. That's the truth, bro. It's the refs. The NFL is political.&#8221;<\/p>\n<cite>\u2014 George Pickens<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p>It is very possible that the <a href=\"https:\/\/brobible.com\/tag\/nfl\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">NFL<\/a> could choose to fine George Pickens for his targeted comments toward officials. However, wouldn't that only further prove his point if they try to silence him?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Pittsburgh Steelers wide receiver George Pickens is not happy with NFL officiating after his team's Wild Card loss to the Buffalo Bills on Monday afternoon. He alluded to the idea that the referees might have rigged the game in favor of the home team because Josh Allen's rematch against the Kansas City Chiefs will draw [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":288,"featured_media":1578008,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[447365,95,4906],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v22.3 (Yoast SEO v22.9) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Steelers Star Alludes That The &#039;Political&#039; NFL Rigged Playoff Game<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Pittsburgh Steelers wide receiver George Pickens was not happy with the NFL officials for being &quot;political&quot; during Monday&#039;s Wild Card game.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/sports7.us\/news\/george-pickens-officials-referees-nfl-political-bills-steelers-rigged\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Steelers Star Alludes That The &#039;Political&#039; NFL Rigged Playoff Game\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Pittsburgh Steelers wide receiver George Pickens was not happy with the NFL officials for being &quot;political&quot; during Monday&#039;s Wild Card game.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/sports7.us\/news\/george-pickens-officials-referees-nfl-political-bills-steelers-rigged\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Sports7\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2024-01-16T16:53:48+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2024-01-16T16:53:49+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/sports7.us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/george-pickens-nfl-referee-officials-rigged-political-steelers-bills-wild-card.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1600\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"900\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Grayson Weir\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:title\" content=\"Steelers Wide Receiver George Pickens Alludes To The Idea That Referees Rigged Bills&#039; Playoff Win Because NFL Is &#039;Political&#039;\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Grayson Weir\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sports7.us\/news\/george-pickens-officials-referees-nfl-political-bills-steelers-rigged\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/sports7.us\/news\/george-pickens-officials-referees-nfl-political-bills-steelers-rigged\/\",\"name\":\"Steelers Star Alludes That The 'Political' NFL Rigged Playoff Game\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sports7.us\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sports7.us\/news\/george-pickens-officials-referees-nfl-political-bills-steelers-rigged\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sports7.us\/news\/george-pickens-officials-referees-nfl-political-bills-steelers-rigged\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/sports7.us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/george-pickens-nfl-referee-officials-rigged-political-steelers-bills-wild-card.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2024-01-16T16:53:48+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-01-16T16:53:49+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sports7.us\/#\/schema\/person\/4f311c2ed3ae5e57efe400cff1345b8b\"},\"description\":\"Pittsburgh Steelers wide receiver George Pickens was not happy with the NFL officials for being \\\"political\\\" during Monday's Wild Card game.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sports7.us\/news\/george-pickens-officials-referees-nfl-political-bills-steelers-rigged\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/sports7.us\/news\/george-pickens-officials-referees-nfl-political-bills-steelers-rigged\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sports7.us\/news\/george-pickens-officials-referees-nfl-political-bills-steelers-rigged\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/sports7.us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/george-pickens-nfl-referee-officials-rigged-political-steelers-bills-wild-card.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/sports7.us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/george-pickens-nfl-referee-officials-rigged-political-steelers-bills-wild-card.jpg\",\"width\":1600,\"height\":900,\"caption\":\"George Pickens NFL Referees Officiating Political\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sports7.us\/news\/george-pickens-officials-referees-nfl-political-bills-steelers-rigged\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/sports7.us\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Steelers Wide Receiver George Pickens Alludes To The Idea That Referees Rigged Bills' Playoff Win Because NFL Is &#8216;Political'\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sports7.us\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/sports7.us\/\",\"name\":\"Sports7\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/sports7.us\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sports7.us\/#\/schema\/person\/4f311c2ed3ae5e57efe400cff1345b8b\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/sports7.us\/author\/grayson-weir\/\",\"name\":\"Grayson Weir\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sports7.us\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/4ef578a622a1f052d5f8b8254853612e?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/4ef578a622a1f052d5f8b8254853612e?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Grayson Weir\"},\"jobTitle\":\"Sports Editor\",\"email\":\"\",\"sameAs\":[\"\",\"\",\"\",\"\",\"\"]}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Steelers Star Alludes That The 'Political' NFL Rigged Playoff Game","description":"Pittsburgh Steelers wide receiver George Pickens was not happy with the NFL officials for being \"political\" during Monday's Wild Card game.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/sports7.us\/news\/george-pickens-officials-referees-nfl-political-bills-steelers-rigged\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Steelers Star Alludes That The 'Political' NFL Rigged Playoff Game","og_description":"Pittsburgh Steelers wide receiver George Pickens was not happy with the NFL officials for being \"political\" during Monday's Wild Card game.","og_url":"https:\/\/sports7.us\/news\/george-pickens-officials-referees-nfl-political-bills-steelers-rigged\/","og_site_name":"Sports7","article_published_time":"2024-01-16T16:53:48+00:00","article_modified_time":"2024-01-16T16:53:49+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1600,"height":900,"url":"https:\/\/sports7.us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/george-pickens-nfl-referee-officials-rigged-political-steelers-bills-wild-card.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Grayson Weir","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_title":"Steelers Wide Receiver George Pickens Alludes To The Idea That Referees Rigged Bills' Playoff Win Because NFL Is 'Political'","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Grayson Weir","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/sports7.us\/news\/george-pickens-officials-referees-nfl-political-bills-steelers-rigged\/","url":"https:\/\/sports7.us\/news\/george-pickens-officials-referees-nfl-political-bills-steelers-rigged\/","name":"Steelers Star Alludes That The 'Political' NFL Rigged Playoff Game","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/sports7.us\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/sports7.us\/news\/george-pickens-officials-referees-nfl-political-bills-steelers-rigged\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/sports7.us\/news\/george-pickens-officials-referees-nfl-political-bills-steelers-rigged\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/sports7.us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/george-pickens-nfl-referee-officials-rigged-political-steelers-bills-wild-card.jpg","datePublished":"2024-01-16T16:53:48+00:00","dateModified":"2024-01-16T16:53:49+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/sports7.us\/#\/schema\/person\/4f311c2ed3ae5e57efe400cff1345b8b"},"description":"Pittsburgh Steelers wide receiver George Pickens was not happy with the NFL officials for being \"political\" during Monday's Wild Card game.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/sports7.us\/news\/george-pickens-officials-referees-nfl-political-bills-steelers-rigged\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/sports7.us\/news\/george-pickens-officials-referees-nfl-political-bills-steelers-rigged\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/sports7.us\/news\/george-pickens-officials-referees-nfl-political-bills-steelers-rigged\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/sports7.us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/george-pickens-nfl-referee-officials-rigged-political-steelers-bills-wild-card.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/sports7.us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/george-pickens-nfl-referee-officials-rigged-political-steelers-bills-wild-card.jpg","width":1600,"height":900,"caption":"George Pickens NFL Referees Officiating Political"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/sports7.us\/news\/george-pickens-officials-referees-nfl-political-bills-steelers-rigged\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/sports7.us\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Steelers Wide Receiver George Pickens Alludes To The Idea That Referees Rigged Bills' Playoff Win Because NFL Is &#8216;Political'"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/sports7.us\/#website","url":"https:\/\/sports7.us\/","name":"Sports7","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/sports7.us\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/sports7.us\/#\/schema\/person\/4f311c2ed3ae5e57efe400cff1345b8b","url":"https:\/\/sports7.us\/author\/grayson-weir\/","name":"Grayson Weir","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/sports7.us\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/4ef578a622a1f052d5f8b8254853612e?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/4ef578a622a1f052d5f8b8254853612e?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Grayson Weir"},"jobTitle":"Sports Editor","email":"","sameAs":["","","","",""]}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sports7.us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1578005"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sports7.us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sports7.us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports7.us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/288"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports7.us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1578005"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/sports7.us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1578005\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1578009,"href":"https:\/\/sports7.us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1578005\/revisions\/1578009"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports7.us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1578008"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sports7.us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1578005"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports7.us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1578005"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports7.us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1578005"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}