OXNARD, Calif. – In all my born days, and there has been gobs of them, there have been various names for NFL offenses.
West Coast.
Pro Style.
Run and Shoot.
K-Gun.
Air Coryell.
Air Raid.
Greatest Show On Turf.
Well, after watching the 2025 version of the Dallas Cowboys offense during the offseason workouts and now these first three days of simply non-padded training camp practices out here at the River Ridge Sports Complex, this came to me:
The Triangle Offense.
What?
Triangle Offense, and we aren't talking some basketball offense popularized by Phil Jackson, who utilized a center in the low post, a forward at the wing and a shooting guard in the corner with the Chicago Bulls.
And just in case this sticks, going to petition for a copyright on the name if available.
We continue to witness how this might turn the Cowboys offense under first-time head coach Brian Schottenheimer into a prolific bunch to propel this team back into prominence after the 7-10 season last year. Sort of The Triplets of the 21st century, an ode to those three guys rocketing the Cowboys into three Super Bowl titles in four seasons from 1992-95:
Troy Aikman-Michael Irvin-Emmitt Smith.
Well, this version consists of Dak Prescott-CeeDee Lamb-George Pickens.
Yep, if we invert this triangle, the sole vertex at the bottom of this V is Prescott, the quarterback, actually the heart and soul of this team. The two completing the top of the triangle, equal distances apart – and equal has a double meaning – is Lamb at one point and Pickens across the top at the other. The newly minted by Schottenheimer "Mario Brothers." Equal footing, equally dangerous.
You get me? Telling you, I'm starting to see this passing game developing into something special. Dak is Dak once again, throwing darts all over the field, now healthy 100 percent. Man, he's beginning to resemble 2023 Dak. You know, the one who finished second in the MVP voting thanks to posting the second-highest QB rating with a second-highest franchise single-season mark of 105.9; first in completions (410); third in yards passing (4,516); first in touchdown passes (36); and first in completion percentage (69.5) with at least 300 attempts.
Man, Dak is showing no residual signs of having torn his hamstring tendon away from the pelvic bone in the eighth game of the 2024 season, costing him the final nine games when the Cowboys' average yards passing per game dropped from 253 to 205. They won just four more games after getting off to a 3-4 start before he went down for the season.
Should have seen the beauty of a slant pass he threw to Pickens in congested coverage Thursday before Pickens even hit the top step of the route to break inside. Poetry in motion.
Then there is CeeDee. Amazing. Think about this: The four-time Pro Bowl wide receiver (2021-24) in his first five seasons finished 2024 with 101 catches for 1,194 yards and six touchdowns. And this after holding out for a contract extension, causing him to miss the entire offseason, training camp and arriving just two weeks before the start of the season. Only to then suffer a painful shoulder injury in need of surgery that he continued to play through until the Cowboys were finally eliminated from any playoff contention in the final two games of the season. And still, a Pro Bowler.
Now, there ain't a thing wrong with CeeDee.
"I feel 1,000 percent," he says, and brother it shows. Every day so far.
And now Pickens. Just forget everything you've heard about the guy from his three years in Pittsburgh. Why, when the Cowboys traded for the former second-round draft choice, figured they were acquiring a brooding prima donna wide receiver, a throw-me-the-ball kind of guy. Couldn't have been further from the truth.
Don't want to take my word for it? Listen to Dak about the nearly four-month impression GP has made:
"I think just the fun, like the guy has fun. And I think everybody understands, too, like the talent that he has, right. You hear about a guy from somewhere else and you think this, or you think that, but you come in, and man, it's so far from that.
"Honestly, like damn, I'm glad he's here, and he's out of that whatever it was that gave him that persona or that perception of what people thought that about him. You know, just want to pour into him because he's poured into us already."
Or as CeeDee says, "He's not as crazy as he seemed to be."
The Triangle.
Dak at the point. CeeDee to one side. GP to the other. Who you going to double? Can't really double both Mario Brothers, and look, whatever the perception of Pickens has been, from what the Cowboys are witnessing, the fourth-year veteran is more than just the deep threat he still is. Plus, he's now playing with the best quarterback of his career, and alongside the best wide receiver of his career, so don't be messing around with CeeDee No.1 and George No. 2. These guys are co-No. 1s, believe me. Wonder if the Cowboys ever had two Pro Bowl wide receivers on the same team.
(Looked it up. They haven't. And for context, during the Cowboys' 1995 Super Bowl XXX championship season, Irvin led with 111 catches. No. 2, Kevin Williams, had 38. Go ahead and drool at the possibilities.)
The best part of the budding Mario Brothers? Neither receiver seems threatened by the other. Remember the tale from minicamp when Pickens caught the deep ball for what would have been a touchdown? Well, coming in from the other side of the field to escort him across the goal line in celebration was CeeDee, with Dak showing up seconds later.
The Triangle at its best.
And then there was Wednesday's practice out here. CeeDee caught a tunnel screen and weaved his way untouched some 70 yards for what would have been a touchdown. First to greet him? Pickens, running full speed into the end zone. They engaged in some cooked-up handshake. Jealousy totally absent.
"I can tell you right now, those two dudes love football," Dak says. "That's something I noticed the moment George came; this guy loves football. This connection (with CeeDee) will not be hard. He wants to be in the locker room, he wants to be on the field, he wants to hang out with the boys, so when you have players like that, man, that connection is there, it's real.
It's not something, honestly, you've got to put a lot of time and work into. You just get to be yourselves. They get to be their selves, and we get to do something we love together."
Dak continues: "CeeDee understands, and all those guys understand, the more plays we make, the better for all of us. That's something I'm super thankful about this offense, this team. We don't have selfish guys. Guys want to block, they want to make to plays, they want to do the little things for other guys because they understand when you do that, we all win. And we don't just win in the win-loss column, but we win in the business of it, we win in life."
Telling you, the moment the Cowboys traded for Pickens, the perception of this Cowboys offense totally changed. As Dak said of Pickens and this offense, "He's kind of given us a little juice."
Pulp included, giving the Cowboys some sought-after balance in the passing game, something they haven't enjoyed the past three seasons. Teams will pay if they think taking away Lamb with double-teams will solve their defensive problems. Better think again.
And when my Mick Shots podcast partner Bill Jones asked CeeDee how he thinks the Cowboys' wide receiver group stacks up against the rest of the league, CeeDee creased one of his patented toothy grins, almost as if he was trying to resist saying what was on his mind.
He caved.
"I like us versus anybody, honestly," he began. "Versus anyone, any room. I don't care what they're saying in the media. I see it, I ignore it, we'll see it. I don't do too much talking."
Neither does GP. Few words. Short answers but to the point when asked his early assessment of this offense, saying, "I think it could be great."
Me, too, thanks to this Triangle affair.
