FRISCO - Our truth about "creativity'' in playcalling?
If your team moves the ball, scores a touchdown and wins the game, it's "creative.''
When it doesn't do those three things? It's "boring'' and "vanilla'' and coaches get fired.
But ... there is a game within a game when it comes to offensive design, and Dallas Cowboys receiver George Pickens is speaking out about the advantages to coach Brian Schottenheimer putting something into Dallas' gameplan that "a lot of coaches don't do.''
“A lot of motions, a lot of things that give you an indicator on what the defense is doing before you say hike,” Pickens said on Wednesday in describing a Cowboys advantage. “A lot of coaches don’t do that.”
Previous Cowboys offenses under head coaches and coordinators from Jason Garrett to Kellen Moore and Mike McCarthy were often criticized for their - you guessed it - lack of creativity. Our view all along was that, for example ...
- In the three straight 12-win campaigns under McCarthy ...
- During QB Dak Prescott finishing second in MVP voting ...
- With CeeDee Lamb making four straight Pro Bowls ...
- With Ezekiel Elliott winning two NFL rushing titles ...
Somebody around here must've been doing something right.
But if "Schotty'' believes that a foundational feature of Dallas’ offensive identity is about motion and deception and "creativity''? And if Pickens, who comes here in a trade from the Steelers to join Lamb as an elite receiving duo, is a believer?
"Belief'' and trust are half the battle.
The truth is, motion (and option routes and other "creative'' tools) can sometimes be confusing to an offense, too; it wasn't that long ago that Lamb and his receiving buddies were being ripped for being poor route-runners.
But now? Lamb is an NFL trend-setter.
“Most definitely,'' Pickens said. "I've played (with) a lot of other receivers, but he plays a little more of everything, so it kind of affects a lot of stuff in a good way. ... A lot of guys can't do that ... a lot of No. 1 guys just kind of play where the coaches got them playing. But he plays everything."
Schotty has said he wants to be "multiple.'' And Prescott is in Year 10 at the helm, so he should have a mastery of it all.
So, in the end, "creativity'' is fun.
But not as fun as winning games.
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