FRISCO, Texas — Brian Schottenheimer has not said anything to George Pickens about his drops in the season opener. The Dallas Cowboys coach said Wednesday at The Star that Pickens will be just fine.
Pickens caught 3 of 6 targets for 28 yards in the 28-20 loss to the New York Giants on Sunday night. He played 49 of 58 offensive snaps.
Schottenheimer expects Pickens to catch a ball down the sideline and take it the rest of the way.
“I don’t say anything to George. George will be just fine,” Schottenheimer said. “He’s going to usually catch that ball going down the sideline and probably pull through it, then jump over people and spin and then jump into the end zone. And so I don’t worry about George.”
George Pickens Coming Off Career Season With Dallas Cowboys
Pickens set career highs in his first season in Dallas in 2025 with 93 catches for 1,429 yards and 9 touchdowns on 137 targets. His Cowboys debut last September came at the Philadelphia Eagles, and he caught 4 passes for 30 yards.
Against New York, CeeDee Lamb caught 5 of 8 targets for 44 yards and a touchdown. Javonte Williams caught 5 passes for 31 yards and a touchdown. Dak Prescott completed 22-of-34 passes for 175 yards, 2 touchdowns, and 1 interception.
Dallas went three-and-out on its first drive, which Schottenheimer said he did not anticipate. His call sheet carries plenty of plays for Pickens and Lamb.
“You never know how the game’s going to unfold. I didn’t anticipate us going three-and-out the first drive. But any time I get a ball to George and CeeDee, I’d like to do that. It’s a big sheet with a lot of their numbers on there,” Schottenheimer explained. “It would be great if we could maybe push the game to five quarters and we could have a few more ops to get them the ball, but at the end of the day, you never know.”
“You just got to adjust, and so that’s what we did. We adjusted in the second half, and like I said, I really, really, really would have loved to have seen if we would have got the ball back, what would have transpired,” Schottenheimer continued.
Dallas Cowboys Offense Had Limited Chances Against New York Giants
New York ran 68 offensive plays to 52 for Dallas. The Giants took over at their own 28 with 5:21 left and ran out the clock.
Dallas had good answers for what the Giants showed and did not get the ball enough to use a lot of them, Schottenheimer said.
“I think most teams have enough flexibility in their system that they can get to certain things. But at the end of the day, I do think that the Giants had all year to study, certainly us offensively, and they had some nice things,” Schottenheimer said. “And we actually had some really good answers for it. Unfortunately, we didn’t get to use a lot of them because we didn’t have the ball enough. So you’re always adjusting.”
The Washington Commanders allowed 182 passing yards in a 24-22 loss at Philadelphia in their opener. Dallas hosts Washington on Sunday at AT&T Stadium, with kickoff at 3:25 p.m. CT on FOX.
