PHILADELPHIA — With the season opener in the books, the Dallas Cowboys can now sift through the four quarters they put on film in their narrow 24-20 loss against the Philadelphia Eagles on Thursday Night Football, and the mixed bag includes positives regarding George Pickens.
Not only did his presence help clear the way for what might've been a monstrous outing for CeeDee Lamb, if not for critical drops at key points in the game, but Pickens' catches were all timely in helping Dak Prescott and the Cowboys' offense move the chains.
His biggest takeaway from the opener? Keeping his eyes forward.
"Just keep going," he said. "We only lost about four, so just keep trying to put ourselves in better situations so that we're up four, you know what I mean? That's the game of football all over the league. You just want to put yourself in the best situation."
With the road debut now in the books, Pickens is champing at the bit to see how the Cowboys improve heading into the Week 2 battle — his debut at home against the visiting New York Giants on the agenda for Sunday, Sept. 14.
"I'm super anxious [for the next one]," said Pickens. "First game, it was the Eagles, and everything was running on one accord at game level, and it's all being tested. So now that we've got a game under our belt, I'm for sure ready to get back in the lab. And now we know what kind of game to expect — certain plays, certain coverages and what people are gonna play against us.
"That was just the first game. I'm definitely ready to get back to the lab."
Pickens went on to praise head coach Brian Schottenheimer for being nearly masterful in his preparation and offensive playcalling against the Eagles, routinely giving the Cowboys' offense a chance to do damage in a variety of unpredictable ways, from the utilization of presnap motion (42%) to condensed offensive sets to situational football, stellar clock management and more.
In all, Pickens finished with just 30 receiving yards but it came on three catches (10 yard average per reception) on four targets — averaging the equivalent of a first down per catch — and Prescott produced a quarterback rating of 95.8 when targeting him.
There are no moral victories in losses, but just as not every win is without its negatives, not every loss is without its positives.
Pickens' debut lands squarely on the latter.
