Mike Tomlin said yesterday that George Pickens has a, quote, real chance, end quote, to play on Christmas Day against the Chiefs.

Should he?

Should he?

Good morning to you.

Good.

Monday morning. I'm Dan Kovacharich of D.K. Pittsburgh Sports.

This is Daily Shot of Steelers. It comes your way bright and early every weekday.

If you're into hockey and or baseball, I also offer daily shots on the Penguins and Pirates,

the other two teams in town that I cover. Christmas is only, of course, two days away.

And that means that whatever shape Pickens was in that kept him out of the game Saturday

and Baltimore would have to make some significant either reversal or upgrade for him to be in any kind of

reasonable shape against the chiefs. Now, I'd say it's both fair and reasonable to wonder whether

or not that should happen. George has the hamstring. Hamstrings don't heal quickly. The Steelers have

already clinched a playoff spot.

So the easy thinking here, and by the way, the thinking to which I happen to subscribe,

is that George would be held out until the playoffs.

Or at the soonest he'd return the following week against the Bengals in the regular

season finale just so that you have

have him playing some kind of actual football

before you get to the playoffs.

But I'm not going to lie. I'd have a hard time with this one.

I'd have a hard time with putting any of the injured or even the iffy guys

...