‘The Rest Is History’: George Pickens Plays Through Shoulder Injury, Makes Fingertip Touchdown In Cowboys’ Win

PHILADELPHIA — George Pickens caught a 21-yard touchdown pass with his fingertips in the corner of the end zone Monday night, putting the Dallas Cowboys ahead 17-14 in the second quarter of a 38-21 win over the Philadelphia Eagles at Lincoln Financial Field.

The score came on third-and-3 with 5:37 left in the half. It capped a 14-play, 81-yard drive that took 7:48, which started after a holding penalty wiped out a 91-yard kickoff return touchdown by Tyler Goodson.

Pickens said the catch was all fingertips.

“I think it was like an inside go, inside fade, or whatever you want to call it,” Pickens said. “But the rest is history.”

Pickens finished with 4 catches for 57 yards on 6 targets. He added a 21-yard catch in the final minute of the first half, a drive that ended in a 27-yard Brandon Aubrey field goal at the horn, and a 6-yard catch on third-and-2 in the fourth quarter that set up another Aubrey field goal.

Dak Prescott Calls It One Of The Best Catches He Has Seen

Dak Prescott went 15-of-27 for 212 yards and 3 touchdowns. On the Pickens touchdown, Prescott said, the Eagles defender tried to reroute Pickens.

“Once again, these guys are no different than a lot of these other teams. They’re going to put two guys on him, cloud to his side, and they understand and respect his big playability and the way that he ignites our offense,” Prescott said. “So credit to them. I mean, I’m sure he wants more out there, but made a great touchdown play.”

“The guy did a good job trying to reroute him, but I saw George still headed to the back of the end zone, being physical on his route,” Prescott continued. “And I just tried to give him a chance, and he went and made one of the best catches and toe taps I’ve seen in a long time.”

Philadelphia blitzed Dallas early, according to Prescott. The Cowboys’ tempo and commitment to the run brought play action to life, even if the deep shots did not land.

“Just the tempo, like you said, in and out of the huddle, quick play calls, sticking to the run. That allowed the action, the play action to come alive, didn’t necessarily hit the big ones like we wanted to,” Prescott explained. “They did a good job of still trying to play over the top and taking that away, clouding George and rerouting CeeDee here and there when they could. And so, yeah, even [though] they [blitzed] us early, we had the answers for it. And that allowed us to stay balanced all throughout the game.”

Cowboys coach Brian Schottenheimer said Dallas spread the ball around and ran it more than usual.

“Solid. Again, spread the ball around. We wanted to run it some more tonight. We did that,” Schottenheimer said. “But any time those two guys get ops, especially one-on-one, talking about CeeDee and George, they’re tough to defend.”

Pickens was listed as limited with a shoulder injury when the Cowboys opened practice for Philadelphia on Oct. 22, his first appearance on the team’s injury report this season, and he practiced fully that Friday. On Tuesday, Schottenheimer said he would rather Pickens not stick the ball up in the air the way he did Monday, but called him a special competitor.

“Definitely would rather he not stick the ball up in the air like he did. But man, you gotta love the competitor. He’s a special competitor, and I’ll go back to the catch,” Schottenheimer said Tuesday. “I actually laughed because when I saw the review, I understand why they had to look at it. But it was an incredible catch, this touchdown. It was incredible.”

Philadelphia Eagles Bracket George Pickens And CeeDee Lamb

CeeDee Lamb drew 12 targets and caught 5 passes for 74 yards and 2 touchdowns. Pickens had 6 targets. Other opponents had shown Dallas coverages it had not prepared for, according to Pickens.

“I just definitely feel like the shots were thrown, and the defense that they came out in was more of what we were seeing,” Pickens said. “Cover six, bracketing both guys. We’ve seen that before, rather than some of the other teams we played. They’ve just been playing completely different coverages [than] we’ve been prepared for.”

With Philadelphia committing extra defenders to the receivers, Dallas ran for 204 yards. Javonte Williams had a career-high 155 of them and named Pickens first among the outside targets.

“It was coming. I knew, like I said, we got a high-level, high-power offense,” Williams said. “And, I mean, when you got GP, CeeDee, Jake Ferguson, those guys on the outside, I mean, it’s going to open up the run [game].”

Lamb said the receivers like it when the box is stacked.

“I feel like there’s so many people inside now. The box is stacked, and it’s like, oh, it’s just you and me out here? I think we like that,” Lamb said.

The win snapped a two-game losing streak. Pickens said the Cowboys can stack wins from here.

“It was super good. Like I said, any time you can win a game in the NFL is super good for the camaraderie of the team,” Pickens explained. “I feel like we came out today and kind of implemented that more than we have previously, but like I say, we can just stack wins from now on.”

Nights like Monday matter beyond the box score, according to Pickens, who said a win like this boosts the team’s morale.

“Just definitely super important. Like I said, it’s just super important just because that can boost the morale of the team,” Pickens said.

Dallas improved to 3-4 and hosts the Arizona Cardinals on Sunday at AT&T Stadium. Kickoff is set for noon CT on FOX.