As Cowboys receiver George Pickens closes in on the expiration of his rookie contract and the payday to follow, every great game matters.
Every not-great game could, too.
On Thursday night, something seemed off. Targeted nine times, Pickens had five catches for only 37 yards. It was his lowest yardage output since Week 1, when he caught three passes for 30 yards against the Eagles.
The other issue was his demeanor. He seemed to be, at times, a little disinterested. He seemed to be, at times, a little disengaged. On one play, when the pass was thrown his way, he seemed to run his route half-heartedly. And it appeared that quarterback Dak Prescott had something to say to him about it.
Apparently, Richard Sherman had something to say about Pickens’s perceived effort and demeanor during the post-game show on Prime Video. And that prompted Pickens to respond on Instagram.
Here’s the whole thing, as posted on Twitter by SteelersDepot.com. In it, Pickens attacks Sherman as a player, saying he “ain’t shh without the Legion of Boom we all remember San Francisco brother.” (Sherman was a Pro Bowler and a second-team All-Pro with the 49ers in 2019.)
Pickens also called Sherman a “LEACH WEIRDO.”
I’m a huge George Pickens fan. I believe the Steelers consistently failed to get the most out of his rare abilities in his three seasons there. I also believe it’s imperative, with a highly-talented receiver, to scheme ways to get the ball in his hands early, with bubble screens and jet sweeps if the down-field opportunities aren’t there.
After receiver CeeDee Lamb left last night’s game with a concussion, the Lions apparently committed to taking Pickens away. Which created opportunities for Ryan Flournoy.
Still, Sherman’s assessments weren’t incorrect. It did seem as if Pickens was frustrated at times, disinterested at times, disengaged at times. Sherman’s current position compels him to share his honest opinions, based on what he sees.
And Pickens needs to remember the reputation that stuck to him in Pittsburgh. Right or wrong, he was painted as immature at times, unreliable at times, undependable at times. Even if he was simply reacting to the team’s chronic failure to get the most out of him (they’re currently doing the same thing with DK Metcalf, by the way), it’s part of how he’s viewed by many fans. When he seems to behave in a manner that is consistent with the past, past perceptions quickly morph into currently perceived realities.
For their part, the Cowboys are wisely tiptoeing around the question of whether Pickens gave his all, all the time, on Thursday night.
Asked Friday about Pickens’s effort against the Lions, coach Brian Schottenheimer said this: “I’m gonna judge George on his body of work and what he’s shown and the elite player he is and what a game changer that he is.”
Appearing on 105.3 The Fan in Dallas, owner/G.M. Jerry Jones was asked a similar question. “He didn’t have the game he’s been having,” Jones said. “But effort, I would be very careful with him going there.”
The Cowboys have no choice but to treat last night like an aberration, and to continue to work with him in an effort to keep him fully engaged. But Pickens has a responsibility, too.
He’s now four games away from getting paid, and his case for a market-level deal will be strengthened by market-level performances. He has had several in recent weeks. Last night, he didn’t. Upcoming opponents will file that away, forming their defensive game plans while taking into account the potential benefits of taking him out of the game, physically and mentally.
If anything, last night’s showing — and his eruption at Sherman — underscores the value of trying to do that. And how he reacts in those situations necessarily becomes part of the balance that needs to be struck when formulating the long-term offers he’ll be getting, from the Cowboys or from some other team.
Cowboys owner Jerry Jones said Friday morning on 105.3 The Fan that CeeDee Lamb’s concussion on Thursday night “scared” him.
In Thursday night’s 44-30 loss to the Lions, Lamb had six catches for 121 yards before landing on his head with 12:42 remaining in the third quarter.
The Cowboys now have 10 days before they play their next game.
“He had a good day, but he has to go through all the checks and balances of all that stuff,” coach Brian Schottenheimer said Friday, via Todd Archer of ESPN. “I do think the extra couple of days should hopefully help him.”
Edge rusher Jadeveon Clowney missed the loss to the Lions with a hamstring injury.
"[He will be] ready to go against Minnesota, barring any setbacks,” Schottenheimer said.
When it comes to football, I don’t really want to think about math.
(When it comes to math, I don’t really want to think about math, either.)
Analytics has its place. The problem is it’s now everyplace. Last night, for example, I didn’t need to know, and didn’t want to hear, that Amazon AI said the Cowboys needed to score by 3:17 (give or take a second or two) to get the ball back again, with the number being pushed on the audience as if the words were being spoken from a burning bush.
How about we just watch the game and see what happens instead?
When it comes to the overall playoff chase, it’s the most mathematical time of the year. Percentage this, percentage that, percentage va fungool.
Case in point: The NFL’s NextGenStats said that, with a loss on Thursday night, the Cowboys’ chances of making the playoffs would plummet to six percent.
I prefer to look at the bigger picture.
First, the Cowboys need to run the table, beating the Vikings, Chargers, at Commanders, and at Giants. Easy? No. Possible? Yes.
Second, the Eagles have to go 2-3 down the stretch. Their schedule goes like this: at Chargers, Raiders, at Commanders, at Bills, Commanders.
Impossible? Not at all, not with a team that has lost two in a row and could be in the opening stretch of a 2023-style free-fall to end the regular season. (After starting 10-1 two years ago, Philly lost five of six.)
Is the chance of that happening six percent? Who knows? What is the number even in relation to? How is it calculated?
It’s far from a Gospel truth, but fans are expected (it seems) to regard it that way.
From time to time, a team with a supposedly snowball’s in-game percentage chance of securing victory pulls it off. And it seems to happen more times than the dire one- or two-percent calculations would seem to suggest.
As to the Cowboys’ playoff chances, screw the numbers. Win the next four, and hope the Eagles go 2-3. That would make the Cowboys 10-6-1, and the Eagles 10-7.
And it would give the Cowboys the NFC East crown.
The official chances as of Week 1 of the Cowboys having a plausible chance to secure a division title with four weeks left were probably a lot less than six percent.
Micah Parsons has been one of the best defensive players in football since entering the league five years ago. He was defensive rookie of the year in 2021, first-team All-Pro in 2021 and 2022, second-team All-Pro in 2023 and is a four-time Pro Bowler.
He has yet to win defensive player of the year, finishing second in 2021 and 2022, third in 2023 and 18th in 2024 after missing four games.
Parsons is unlikely to win it this year, either, with Myles Garrett the overwhelming favorite to win defensive player of the year. Garrett is 6.5 sacks ahead of Parsons and on pace for the all-time single-season record.
Parsons was asked Thursday whether he believes he has a shot at winning his first defensive player of the year.
“I don’t really know,” he said, via Matt Schneidman of TheAthletic.com. “I just kind of leave that up to the writers and who they vote for. I don’t really control it, but for me, I’ve just got to just keep playing good football and helping my team win.”
Parsons and Garrett are good friends, and the two spend time working out together in the offseason.
“We talk about this when we train all the time,” Parsons said. “It’s like running your own race. Me trying to catch up to Myles is probably not going to happen, and he’s his own different specimen, and he has his own team, and what they do and what they do is special. And I think my race is finding a way to finish these last five games and putting together my best season, and I’m on track.”
Parsons, in his first season with the Packers, has had a season worthy of defensive player of the year, but Garrett has been better. So, it’s likely Parsons finishes his fifth season as the runner-up for the award a third time.
“I think it’ll be a nice accolade if I’m able to achieve that once in my career, but for right now, I just been playing for respect,” Parsons said. “I think that’s kind of what’s making me go.”
Cowboys wide receiver George Pickens had a relatively quiet game on Thursday night, catching just five passes for 37 yards. But Pickens said the Cowboys’ passing game did what it wanted to do.
Pickens said the Lions’ secondary was so focused on him that Dak Prescott was able to find other open receivers, most notably Ryan Fournoy, who had the best game of his career in Detroit with nine catches for 115 yards and a touchdown.
“Flo stepped in,” Pickens said. “Double me and then Flo had 115, so the game plan still kind of went how it went, just the overall game didn’t go our way.”
Pickens said he was thrilled to see both Pickens and CeeDee Lamb top 100 receiving yards.
“You double one guy, two guys went over 100,” Pickens said.
It wasn’t enough to win on a day when the Lions put 44 points on the board, but it was a good performance by the Cowboys’ receiving corps, even if Pickens didn’t have great numbers.
