George Pickens’ involvement has been doubted a little this season, and Brian Schottenheimer is now pointing to what the WR needs to get better at. The Cowboys head coach said Thursday that Pickens needs to understand his impact in the running game, including blocks on safeties and corners.
“He needs to understand that he impacts us in the running game as well,” Schottenheimer said, via The Athletic’s Jon Machota. “He’s got to do the same thing in the run game, picking up safeties and blocking corners, just like Javonte (Williams) does, picking up blitzes so he can catch balls. That’s part of the team-first mindset, and GP does understand that. When he’s going, they’re going to play soft inside. When he’s not going, then the safeties get pretty good runs at our backs. And that’s got to improve.”
The Cowboys are in a tough spot right now. They fell 23-13 to the Packers on Sunday, which drops them to 2 wins and 4 losses this season. George Pickens had 73 receiving yards in that game, but it was not enough to change the outcome.
This year has been a slower start for him than last year. In 2025, he put up a career-best 1,429 receiving yards, the third most in the NFL. However, in the first four weeks of 2026, he could not eclipse 100 yards.
Schottenheimer had said earlier on Monday that they need to move Pickens around more. Per AtoZSports’ Mauricio Rodriguez, the WR was an isolated receiver on 67% of his targets so far this season, already up from the 57% last year.
“Against the Green Bay Packers, seven of his targets came with him isolated,” Rodriguez pointed out. “And there’s almost no pre-snap motion with him before targets.”
If Pickens is not used in more innovative ways, it keeps Dallas on the back foot when it comes to making big plays. As Heavy’s Sean Deveney pointed out, if safeties aren’t blocked, the run game is hampered. That will allow the defense to “to take away deep shots,” he wrote.
A big reason the offense feels stuck is the running game. Dallas has only 456 rushing yards, the third-fewest in the league. The Green Bay game was the low point, with 48 rushing yards, a season low. That is a sharp drop from 2025, when the team ranked ninth in rushing yards (125.6 rush yards average).
Running back Javonte Williams admitted the need for balance.
“It was kinda surprising,” running back Javonte Williams said. “I know how good of a team we are, and we’re going to get back on track. We just got to communicate and get balanced.”
Balance was exactly what was missing. Brian Schottenheimer called a huge number of passes, with Dak Prescott throwing 54 times while Tyler Goodson and Williams carried the ball only 13 times combined. Prescott also rushed for 7 yards.
Cowboys writer Nick Eatman thinks the fix is easy to name.
“I think we have to start with the commitment to run. That’s the biggest thing coming out of the game last Sunday in Green Bay. The Cowboys ran the ball just 13 times to the running backs, 11 of which to Javonte Williams. The most alarming stat of all was the fact the Cowboys passed the ball 32 straight times, and 40 of the last 41 plays to end the game. And that was coming off the heels of a touchdown run by Williams.”
Pickens was limited in practice with a shoulder issue, but he isn’t expected to miss the Eagles game. Still, if Dallas wants to be part of the Super Bowl conversation, finding that balance has to come first.
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The post “Got To Improve”: Brian Schottenheimer Criticizes George Pickens Ahead of Eagles Game Amid Cowboys WR’s Struggles appeared first on EssentiallySports. Add EssentiallySports as a Preferred Source by clicking here.