‘Actively Sabotaging the Team,’ ‘Fireable Offense’ — Cowboys Fans Rip HC Brian Schottenheimer’s Questionable Usage of George Pickens
· Yahoo Sports
George Pickens’ role in the Dallas Cowboys’ offense has become a sore spot for fans, and they are laying the blame at the feet of head coach Brian Schottenheimer, who also calls the offensive plays.
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Arizona beat Dallas 33-30 in overtime Sunday at AT&T Stadium after the Cowboys let a 14-point fourth-quarter lead slip away, and Pickens finished with two catches for 48 yards on four targets, while CeeDee Lamb drew 11 targets. The loss dropped the Cowboys to 3-5.
Brian Schottenheimer Faces Backlash Over George Pickens’ Usage
While the Cowboys fans were upset about the overtime loss, a questionable Pickens stat from Tom Downey prompted them to call out Schottenheimer.
“George Pickens and CeeDee Lamb were on the field for I believe just 35 snaps together against the Cardinals. That 48.6% amount is the first time they’ve been under 50% (excluding games in which one or both didn’t finish) Mind-numbingly stupid from Brian Schottenheimer,” Downey wrote on X.
Hours after the loss, Cowboys analyst RJ Ochoa reacted to the stat and wrote, “Zero defense for not having Pickens involved more. It is actively sabotaging the team.”
Pickens was listed as questionable with shoulder and hamstring injuries before kickoff and was active against Arizona. Dallas leaned on the ground game, running 39 times for 93 yards while Prescott threw 29 passes.
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The concern reached beyond one receiver for another fan: “We have a coach who can’t design play calls to get them both going in a game.”
Lamb, the other half of that pairing, caught seven of his 11 targets for 58 yards.
Another fan suspected the play-caller of having a motive: “He’s sending a message to Pickens which makes absolutely no sense.”
Pickens’ biggest moment came late in the third quarter. His 37-yard catch carried Dallas to the Arizona 25, and three plays later, a 23-yard interference flag put the ball at the 2 before Dak Prescott ran in a touchdown that made it 24-10.
A holding flag erased another long Pickens catch in the third. Through Week 8, Pickens has 62 targets, four of them came on Sunday, and his 533 receiving yards rank 15th in the NFL. The Cowboys WR is No.19 on PFN’s Wide Receiver Impact Rankings with an impact score of 79.8.
Schottenheimer offered a different explanation after the game: “We certainly had a chance to have a big play called back to George. Had a big one, got a P.I. penalty on another one. I thought they did a good job of mixing their coverages. They got after the quarterback pretty good. I thought they did a nice job with that. But at the end of the day, there was some plays out there for us to make, and we’ve got to make those plays to win this game.”
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The Cardinals sacked Prescott four times for 27 yards. The quarterback, who finished 19 of 29 for 195 yards, took the Pickens question head-on: “If I had the answer, we’d get him involved. I’m not trying to be rude or whatever it is, but he made some plays any time the ball went his way.”
“As I tell you all before, I go through the reads, try to throw it to the open guy and stay consistent and true to that. And so I’ve got to go back and look at the film and see if I missed him, see if we could have went to him more,” he added.
Criticism Extends to Brian Schottenheimer’s Play Calling and Job Security
The finish drew more criticism. Holding a 27-24 lead, Dallas recovered an onside kick, lost three yards, and settled for Brandon Aubrey’s 41-yard field goal with 1:09 left. Arizona went 80 yards to tie it, missed the extra point, and won in overtime on Chad Ryland’s 42-yard field goal after Dallas’ only possession of the extra period lost five yards.
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One another snap stuck with Downey: “The 2nd and 10 play is the issue. An incomplete pass does literally no harm. Coming out in heavy personnel to run play action with backups is a joke…”
For another fan, the verdict on the coaching took two words: “Fireable offense.”
Asked after the game whether the loss would prompt a coaching change, Cowboys owner and general manager Jerry Jones answered, “That’s not in my mind at this time. The main thing that’s in my mind is we tee it up for those kinds of spots to win it. We really do want those situations.”
That answer did not sit well with another fan: “And yet Jones doesn’t believe coaching changes are warranted. He isn’t serious about winning and doesn’t care, so why should the fans?”
With a coaching change not in Jones’ mind for now, Schottenheimer remains the play-caller as the Cowboys head to Indianapolis to face the Colts on November 8.
This article originally appeared on Pro Football Network.