George Pickens
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Dallas Cowboys wide receiver George Pickens detailed how positive his exit from the Pittsburgh Steelers has been.
When the Dallas Cowboys acquired George Pickens during the offseason, the idea was for him to be the clear WR2. Instead, he only had three receptions in the Cowboys’ first loss of the year against the Philadelphia Eagles.
Pickens did what he had to do when he caught the football, catching three passes for 30 yards, good for 10 yards per catch. However, only having three catches is a bit disappointing, and something the Cowboys have to fix moving forward.
Despite that, and Pickens being outspoken about his lack of targets in the past with the Pittsburgh Steelers, he didn’t seem too upset about what happened on Thursday.
While this is just the first game, it’s promising to hear that Pickens isn’t too upset yet, according to quotes given to the team.
“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.”
Can George Pickens Be a Reliable WR2 for Cowboys?
Perhaps more beneficial than anything else for Pickens and the Dallas Cowboys is the fact that, after the game, he even stated that he’s ready to get out there against the Philadelphia Eagles again and continue to figure things out with this Cowboys team.
“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.
George Pickens Will Need to Adapt
Pickens will have to get used to what type of offense the Cowboys want to run, which won’t be easy with guys like CeeDee Lamb in the mix. Pickens has been a WR1 for much of his young career, so he’ll have to figure out ways to play off Lamb, who many consider one of the top five to ten receivers in the NFL, despite his drop issues.
Others believe that the Dallas Cowboys just got the blueprint for what Pickens will be during his time in Dallas. That includes FanSided’s Tommy Jaggi, who noted that there are a few things everybody knows about Pickens, and one of them is that he wants the football.
More importantly, Jaggi pointed out that the Cowboys didn’t target Pickens as much as he will likely want, which is something to keep in mind.
If Pickens doesn’t start to get the football, especially more than Jake Ferguson, there could be some problems in the long term that the Cowboys have to consider coming up.
“There are two things we know about George Pickens: he wants to be involved, and he wants to win football games. These are good qualities to have. The problem is that, when things are not going well, Pickens is capable of self-destructing. And Cowboys fans might have already gotten their first taste of this since trading for Pickens in May.
“During the Cowboys’ 20-24 loss to the Eagles, quarterback Dak Prescott frequently targeted his go-to receiver CeeDee Lamb. With all eyes watching in a game that didn’t wrap up until after midnight Eastern Time, Lamb was targeted 13 times while Pickens took a backseat to not only Lamb but tight end Jake Ferguson as well,”he wrote.