{"id":39587,"date":"2025-12-12T15:59:54","date_gmt":"2025-12-12T15:59:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/?p=39587"},"modified":"2025-12-12T15:59:54","modified_gmt":"2025-12-12T15:59:54","slug":"breaking-cowboys-dak-prescott-spotlights-george-pickens-response-to-controversy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/?p=39587","title":{"rendered":"BREAKING: Cowboys&#8217; Dak Prescott Spotlights George Pickens Response to Controversy"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"post-featured-container-id\">\n<div id=\"post-featured\">\n<figure><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/heavy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/GettyImages-2240618681-e1765549457519.jpg?quality=65&amp;strip=all&amp;w=780\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 820px) 95vw, 780px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/heavy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/GettyImages-2240618681-e1765549457519.jpg?quality=65&amp;strip=all&amp;w=780 780w, https:\/\/heavy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/GettyImages-2240618681-e1765549457519.jpg?quality=15&amp;strip=all&amp;w=1100 1100w, https:\/\/heavy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/GettyImages-2240618681-e1765549457519.jpg?quality=35&amp;strip=all&amp;w=1350 1350w\" alt=\"Cowboys' Dak Prescott Spotlights George Pickens Response to Controversy\" width=\"780\" height=\"439\" \/><\/figure>\n<div>\n<p><em>Getty CHARLOTTE, NORTH CAROLINA &#8211; OCTOBER 12: George Pickens #3 of the Dallas Cowboys celebrates after a touchdown during the third quarter against the Carolina Panthers in the game at Bank of America Stadium on October 12, 2025 in Charlotte, North Carolina. (Photo by Jared C. Tilton\/Getty Images)<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>One of the Cowboys who did not exactly come off scot-free from the 44-30 loss to the Lions in Week 14 was, no doubt, wide receiver George Pickens who had five catches on nine targets for just 37 yards, a steep drop from the 378 yards he had amassed during the Dallas three-game winning streak that had moved the team back into the fringes of the NFC playoff picture.<\/p>\n<p>Pickens not only did not put up big yardage, but he was called out during the national Thursday night broadcast for loafing during a route, a circumstance that brought back all the negative associations attached to him from his days in Pittsburgh. The Steelers traded Pickens to the Cowboys, in part, because they had tired of his uneven effort, and it sure looked like that version of Pickens was on display on Thursday.<\/p>\n<p>But that\u2019s all happened and there\u2019s no changing it. Now the question is what will Pickens do about his situation? Quarterback Dak Prescott is encouraged by what he\u2019s seen so far.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/wp.clutchpoints.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Dak-Prescott-and-George-Pickens.jpg?w=1200\" alt=\"Cowboys news: Dak Prescott, George Pickens team up to torch Sauce Gardner\" \/><\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<h2>George Pickens Has Responded in Practice<\/h2>\n<p>Speaking to reporters after Cowboys practice at The Star on Thursday, Prescott said Pickens\u2019 practice response has been impressive. He also indicated that Pickens is, in a way a victim of his own success\u2013he\u2019s played well, so it was jarring to see him play poorly.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe has responded great. Just came in like a pro as I expected him to do and what I told you all he would do in the postgame,\u201d Prescott said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhen you\u2019re playing to the level he is and the standard, what he put out there is not to his standard or anybody\u2019s expectations when you play the way that he does. He owns that. He has had a hell of a week of practice and is going to continue to finish that way. There\u2019s no doubt all that is going to transpire into the game.\u201d<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_5590929\">\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/heavy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/GettyImages-2243468600-e1762556560938.jpg?quality=65&amp;strip=all&amp;w=300\" alt=\"Cowboys' Dak Prescott Spotlights George Pickens Response to Controversy\" width=\"789\" height=\"447\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-5590929\" data-lazy-load=\"\" \/><\/p>\n<p id=\"caption-attachment-5590929\">Getty ImagesCowboys quarterback Dak Prescott.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<hr \/>\n<h2>Cowboys Easing George Pickens Out of Controversy<\/h2>\n<p>Pickens has 78 catches in 13 games in his first season with the Cowboys, a career high, and also has career highs with 1,179 yards receiving and eight touchdowns. Even with his poor Week 14, he is the No. 6 receiver in the NFL according to Pro Football Focus\u2019s ratings.<\/p>\n<p>Pickens was drawn into controversy after the Lions game as he took criticism from former Pro Bowl cornerback Richard Sherman, who accused him of being \u201cdisengaged.\u201d Pickens fired back with an expletive-heavy social media post, and coach Brian Schottenheimer talked with Pickens to bring down the temperature.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIn his words, he said, \u2018Hey Schotty, I didn\u2019t play my best game,&#8217;\u201d Schottenheimer said. \u201cI think that, unfortunately, none of us played our best game, so that\u2019s reality. But again, I don\u2019t worry about George and his love for football and playing this game. Again, you know for five or six weeks, he was the talk of the sporting world: \u2018Look at George Pickens.\u2019 We didn\u2019t coach or play well enough to win that game in Detroit. They beat us. It is what it is.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cowboyswire.usatoday.com\/gcdn\/authoring\/authoring-images\/2025\/05\/27\/SCOW\/83886650007-usatsi-24498879.jpg?crop=5037,2833,x0,y0&amp;width=660&amp;height=371&amp;format=pjpg&amp;auto=webp\" alt=\"News: Can Schottenheimer, Prescott, and Pickens Revive the Cowboys?\" \/><\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<h2>Cowboys Struggling in Red Zone<\/h2>\n<p>For Prescott, a key part of getting Pickens back on track figures to be getting him more involved in the red zone, which has been a challenge for the Cowboys. They were just 1-for-3 on red-zone trips on Thursday.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSelf-inflicted wounds,\u201d Prescott said. \u201cAny time it is self-inflicted, it\u2019s through your preparation, it\u2019s through the week of practice. Just communication, doing the simple thing right, knowing not only the play but the reads and the nuances of the play and adjusting to the things that can happen. I would say just players all took turns\u2014including myself\u2014on different plays as we approached the red zone on different drives that resulted in us not getting enough touchdowns.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019ve just gotta finish better in the red zone.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Sean Deveney is a veteran sports reporter covering the NBA, NFL and MLB for Heavy.com. He has written for Heavy since 2019 and has more than two decades of experience covering the NBA, including 17 years as the lead NBA reporter for the Sporting News. Deveney is the author of 7 nonfiction books, including &#8220;Fun City,&#8221; &#8220;Before Wrigley became Wrigley,&#8221; and &#8220;Facing Michael Jordan.&#8221; More about Sean Deveney<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Cowboys receiver George Pickens has been under the microscope amid off-field controversy, but he is responding in practice.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":39588,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-39587","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-dallas-cowboys"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>BREAKING: Cowboys&#039; Dak Prescott Spotlights George Pickens Response to Controversy - Breaking News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/?p=39587\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"BREAKING: Cowboys&#039; 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