AT&T Stadium (Arlington, Texas) — So much is needed for a team to rally from 21 points down and win, but at the center of the Cowboys‘ comeback victory over the Eagles on Sunday was an emerging star in receiver George Pickens.
“George has been such an integral part of our story,” Cowboys owner Jerry Jones said outside the Dallas locker room after the 24-21 win. “He has his story; to a degree, that’s our story. I’m so proud for him. Everybody on this team is. He certainly has absolutely been the difference as we’ve played over the last two weeks … it’s something when you’ve got 88 (CeeDee Lamb) and Pickens.”
The biggest storyline of the Cowboys’ offseason was the superstar that got away, with Jones unable to work out a longterm extension for edge rusher Micah Parsons and trading him to the Packers. But in May, as Dallas sought a complement to an All-Pro receiver in Lamb, they traded a third-round pick to the Steelers for Pickens, still just 24 years old and in the final year of his rookie contract.
The 6-foot-3 receiver’s playmaking ability has exceeded expectations, and his production has far exceeded Lamb’s. With six games left in the season, Pickens already has 1,054 yards and eight touchdowns, easily Pro Bowl numbers and potentially All-Pro as well. He had 12 touchdowns in three seasons in Pittsburgh, but could exceed that in just this first year with the Cowboys, who knew his potential lined up opposite Lamb.
“George doesn’t surprise me at all,” head coach Brian Schottenheimer said. “The beautiful thing is those two guys aren’t nearly as good without each other. That’s real. You can cloud coverages. They were trying to do certain things to take those guys away. That’s why you need more than one. He just continues to step up and do a heck of a job … just really proud of him.”
The Cowboys’ comeback was framed by three Pickens’ catches — a short touchdown 21 seconds before halftime to get Dallas on the scoreboard, an incredible 43-yard catch in the fourth quarter to the 11 to set up the tying score and a 24-yard catch in the final minute to set up the winning field goal. The long catch showed Pickens’ ability to make acrobatic, contested catches in the air and took AT&T Stadium to a fever pitch as all momentum shifted to the home Cowboys.
“The catch was crazy,” Pickens said in the locker room after the game. “Tracked the ball, kind of beat the defender. I knew he was going to be running up a little behind, so I knew I was going to have a chance to jump for it. When I came down with it, I kind of knew [they could win] as well.”
Pickens got up and played to the crowd, which has brought out the best in the Cowboys this season, with Sunday’s comeback win and three games where they’ve scored 40+ points on their home field.
“Definitely energy,” he said of his reaction to the crowd noise. “I’m an energy guy myself. That’s why you always see me do the crazy celebrations and get really hyped. I know it’s a big turning point. Defenses, when you’ve got the momentum or you make a splash play, that demoralizes them, let alone you getting hyped as well.”
In wins over the Raiders and Eagles, Pickens has 290 yards and two touchdowns in his last two games. He has four games with at least 134 receiving yards this season, after only one such game in three years in Pittsburgh. It’s also helped him to have a bona fide star quarterback throwing to him, after three years of Kenny Pickett, Russell Wilson and Justin Fields with the Steelers.
Pickens’ emergence has taken the spotlight away from Lamb, who is only 26 and coming off four straight Pro Bowl seasons, enough to earn a four-year contract paying $34 million a year before last season. Lamb, who missed three games with an ankle injury earlier this season, only has two touchdowns and 632 yards, and leads the team with seven drops, compared to only two for Pickens. It has been a frustrating year for Lamb, but Schottenheimer stressed the importance in his postgame press conference of having both receivers playing at a high level.
George Pickens made multiple big receptions in the Cowboys’ win over the Eagles on Sunday.. (Photo by Stacy Revere/Getty Images)
“[Lamb] is not a good player. He’s an incredible player,” Schottenheimer said. “The biggest thing for CeeDee is to know that we love him, we trust him. The ball is going to keep coming his way. The big go ball that he caught down the field was incredible. There are some weeks you have great games and other weeks where you’re like ‘Hey man, yeah, I didn’t play as good as I can play.’ When we start drawing up plays for Kansas City, I’ll give them a little heads-up, there will be a lot of them going to 88.”
Pickens has shown enough personal growth that Prescott specifically praised his leadership, just a week after Pickens and Lamb were benched for the opening drive against Las Vegas, reportedly for missing curfew. Keeping two talented young receivers content and happy battling for the same passes isn’t always an easy task in today’s NFL.
Another challenge for Dallas will be finding a way to pay both receivers enough money to keep them. On the open market, Pickens would be one of the NFL’s most coveted free agents at any position, likely to draw $30 million or more for teams needing a No. 1 receiver in his prime. The Cowboys could use the franchise tag on Pickens, which would pay him around $28 million for 2026, and then they can decide a year later how to move forward with both, knowing the guaranteed money in Lamb’s contract would be done.
Tom Brady’s LFG Player of the Game: Cowboys WR George Pickens 🏆
Thursday brings a Thanksgiving showdown with the Chiefs, another team with a middling record trying to keep their playoff hopes alive, and it will be Pickens’ first taste of a holiday tradition in Dallas. He said being welcomed so warmly by Cowboys fans has been one of the best parts of his first season there, something he wasn’t sure about when he arrived.
“When I first got here, I always wanted to know outside of the team, like the fans and the camaraderie of Dallas,” Pickens said. “I feel like they’ve just embraced me, and all I can do is appreciate it.”
Greg Auman is an NFL Reporter for FOX Sports. He previously spent a decade covering the Buccaneers for the Tampa Bay Times and The Athletic. You can follow him on Twitter at @gregauman.
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