FRISCO, Texas – There haven't been many wide receivers that have had a better season in 2025 than Cowboys WR George Pickens.
Thursday night's 44-30 loss to the Detroit Lions wasn't Pickens' best night, hauling in five receptions for 37 yards. With his counterpart CeeDee Lamb exiting the game in the third quarter with a concussion, Detroit's defense sent most of their attention to Pickens, and overall he felt the ball didn't bounce Dallas' way.
"Things just didn't go our way, to be honest," Pickens said. "I feel like we still had the guys, we still made the plays, CeeDee had a great game, Dak had a great game, I just feel like some plays didn't go our way."
When Lamb missed time earlier in the season, Pickens stepped up in a big way for Dallas' offense. In the four games Lamb was out, Pickens hauled in 427 receiving yards and five receiving touchdowns. In big moments, Pickens knows he needs to continue to make plays, although some of those weren't there on Thursday night.
"Definitely, just in terms of wanting to make more plays," Pickens said when asked if he puts more pressure on himself to perform in big games. "With CeeDee out, it's just certain circumstances you've got to understand. With CeeDee out, I know that I'm going to have to make more plays, which is what I want to do. You can double me, and then [Ryan Flournoy] had 115 [yards]. The gameplan still went how it went, like I said overall game, just didn't go our way."
Following the game, questions were brought up about Pickens' performance, some of which pertained to his effort on the field. Cowboys owner/GM Jerry Jones wasn't concerned about that in the slightest, although he thought he would've seen more.
"He didn't have the game that he's been having, but effort? I would be very careful with him going there," Jones said on 105.3 The Fan Friday. "This guy is explosive with his temperament, and I say that in a positive way. So I don't think so much it was effort, but I don't necessarily have a good explanation as to why he didn't show up more, especially, again, against the back drop of they were limited in their secondary…"
"I really thought it would've been Pickens grand central, I'm not disappointed other than the fact that it could've helped us win that ballgame. No, I'm not at all concerned going forward about Pickens. I thought we would have more with him than we did."
Head coach Brian Schottenheimer was asked about Pickens' energy and if it seemed like he didn't have as much of it, but dismissed that notion and pointed to how Detroit's secondary adjusted.
"No, I don't think so," Schottenheimer said. "I'm going to look at it. I mean, he was being doubled. The minute CeeDee [Lamb] went out, they just decided to play everything two-man over there and try to double him and take him away. I don't think so."
Pickens' quarterback, Dak Prescott, knows that Pickens can be better for Dallas' offense and that better days are certainly ahead.
"I'm sure George would tell you it wasn't his best game. And when CeeDee [Lamb] got out of the game, [I] told him he needed to step up. He made some catches; he made the catch right there to put us down there at the one on the fourth down. He made some plays." Prescott said.
"Now, to George's standard, that's tough. When you're playing the way that he's played, when you're the type of player that he is, I'll be the first to say, it's hard to do that week in and week out. But I think George can, I know George believes he can, and I think that he would just say that this game wasn't up to his standard. And I'm sure he'll own it, and I know he'll be better."
Coming into the game, Pickens led the NFL in receiving yards on slant routes. The Lions certainly watched their film on that, as Pickens said they "definitely overcompensated" on taking that route away.
"Sitting on the slant, I still caught a slant contested, they said it was PI on me. Caught a slant later in the game, so like I said, two of those slants just didn't go our way whether it's the call, whether that's the play, there's a lot of stuff that didn't go our way." Pickens said.
A difficult loss is now in the rear view mirror, and Dallas looks ahead to their final four games as they continue to hold out hope that stacking wins at the end of the year can earn them a spot in the postseason.
"Just keep going," Pickens said of the team's message in the locker room. "Kind of homed in on brotherhood, so just pick your brother up and keep going."
