Cowboys Coach Reveals Details of Talk With George Pickens About WR's Effort vs. Lions

Andy Nesbitt | 1 Hour Ago

George Pickens had five catches for 37 yards in the Cowboys' Week 14 loss to the Lions. / Lon Horwedel-Imagn Images

The Cowboys' Week 14 loss to the Lions not only dealt a big blow to their playoff hopes but it also led to wide receiver George Pickens being ripped by Richard Sherman over what the former NFL defensive back thought was a lack of effort throughout the night from Dallas' star receiver.

Sherman made those comments during the NFL on Prime Video postgame show, which led to Pickens firing off a message to Sherman on social media, which he quickly deleted.

“This is a team game... I’m not the only one on the team. Stop becoming a analyst and talking about one player when he playing a teams game,” Pickens wrote.

Cowboys coach Brian Schottenheimer has since spoken with Pickens about his play in that loss to the Lions and revealed the details of that conversation on Monday.

“We talked a little about it. In his words, he goes, ‘Hey, Schotty, I didn’t play my best game.’ Unfortunately, none of us played our best game. That’s real. But I don’t worry about George and his love for football and playing this game.”

You can watch Schottenheimer full Monday press conference right here:

Pickens has had a huge first season with the Cowboys—through 13 games he has 78 catches for 1,179 yards and eight touchdowns.

Sherman, who won a Super Bowl as a key member of the Seahawks' "Legion of Boom" defense, didn't love what he saw from Pickens during the game in Detroit, saying:

"The big story here is George Pickens. George Pickens, throughout the game, especially late in the game, just looked uninterested in playing football. And that's what you can't have. If you're going to be a superstar, if you want to be the best receiver in the National Football League, you can never be disengaged. It doesn't matter if the game is going your way or not going your way. You can't just disappear in these games, or else you're not going to have an impact."

the story of the game was George Pickens

“uninterested in playing football…

disengaged… disappeared… half-assed it…

unacceptable”

Richard Sherman pulls no punches 😳 pic.twitter.com/87VntE3dIr

— Warren Sharp (@SharpFootball) December 5, 2025

The Cowboys had won three straight games heading into last Thursday night's pivotal contest with the Lions. Now they are 6-6-1 and have just a 6% chance of making the playoffs.

While Pickens didn't have his best game against the Lions, he has come up big all season for the Cowboys. He'll look to bounce back this week when Dallas hosts Minnesota on Sunday Night Football.

The Cowboys then close out their schedule with matchups against the Chargers, Commanders, and Giants. They will need to run the table to have any shot of making the playoffs and they will need Pickens to do everything he can in order to help them do that.

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