Cowboys Injury List & Analysis: What's George Pickens' Problem?

The Dallas Cowboys are having a host of issues to begin the season, but for most, the idea was that the majority of them would be on defense.

Except they're not.

Now the offense, your one strength, is starting to crumble over the past two weeks.

And one player isn't exactly being the weapon we thought he would be, and that's George Pickens.

From six games, George has totaled 428 yards from 33 receptions, and he has a touchdown.

On face value, that seems fine, but stats don't tell the story.

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Against the Green Bay Packers, Pickens had just one reception for 16 yards in the first half, which won't do.

Plus, he's had three games with three or fewer receptions. For a receiver who is looking to be paid $30 to $40 million APY with his next contract, that is odd.

But why has Pickens been largely absent in games?

Our friend at 105.3 The Fan, Shan Shariff offered up three reasons why.

"We don't think George Pickens is getting the football enough," Shariff said. "That's number one. The following possibilities for that are these. Dak is not seeing him. Dak is not getting it to him. That's a possibility.

"The defenses are just saying, 'No, we're taking George away. He's not getting it. It's not going to be an option for you. Brian Schottenheimer is not scheming him open, and it's a play-caller responsibility.

"Or George Pickens isn't getting open and effort and route running could be an issue."

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And they are all legitimate possibilities for Pickens not being "Pickens" or at least near the version we saw last season.

He has had three games of 10+ targets, but against Houston, he had just three targets, and he only had three receptions against the New York Giants in Week 1.

And 105.3 The Fan insider Bobby Belt gave his thoughts on Shariff's possibilities.

"To answer your question, 1A is him, Pickens, he's not getting open enough," Belt said. "1B is teams taking him away. They're giving him attention, but he needs to get open off of that anyway.

"Then it's Dak. Then last is Schotty. I don't think you should have to scheme open somebody who wants to make $38 million a year."

Oh, one more thing: The head coach is now talking frankly about Pickens performing his overall job with greater intensity.

"He needs to understand that he impacts us in the running game as well,'' Schottenheimer said. "And he's got to do the same thing in the run game, picking up safeties and blocking corners just like Javonte does, picking up blitzes so he can catch balls.

"And that's part of the team-first mindset and GP does understand that.''

Hmmm.

As it happens, "GP'' is also a bit dinged up; he's on the Thursday injury list as "limited'' due to shoulder soreness.

So, there are a couple of reasons why Pickens hasn't been involved as much in the offense as we would have thought, and even George's effort on routes has been questioned this season. (See Ben DiNucci's "lazy offense'' accusation below).

And if he isn't getting the ball, you combine those two together, and suddenly you have a narrative building...again.

But we are six weeks into the season, and Pickens has had at least 70 receiving yards in his last four games, so the numbers are sort of there. However, he isn't the game-changer he was last season, and Shariff and Belt just gave you potential reasons why.