Coming into Thursday Night Football, the Dallas Cowboys were riding on a very high horse. Three straight wins had Brian Schottenheimer‘s team back in the thick of the NFC playoff race. Although they were traveling on the road to face the Detroit Lions, their opponent was faltering and dealing with tons of injuries. But the Cowboys’ magic ran out on TNF.
The Lions offense could not be stopped, putting up 44 points and sending the Cowboys back to .500. While the defense was the real issue, wide receiver George Pickens caught a lot of flak for his performace. Despite CeeDee Lamb missing a large portion of the game, Pickens could only muster 37 yards on five receptions. Making matters worse was his apparent lack of effort being called out by former All-Pro cornerback Richard Sherman.
Jerry Jones has no doubts about George Pickens’ on-field effort
Pickens took to social media to hit back at Sherman. Naturally, Cowboys owner Jerry Jones was asked about the Pickens situation during his usual local radio appearance. Jones doesn’t concur with Sherman’s sentiment.
He didn’t have the game that he’s been having. But effort, I would be very careful with him going there. This guy, he’s explosive with his temperament, and I say that in a positive way. So I don’t think so much it was effort… I’m not disappointed, other than the fact that it could have helped us win that ball game. But no, I’m not at all concerned going forward about Pickens.
It doesn’t get much more definitive than that from Jones. While he was slightly disappointed that Pickens couldn’t take more advantage of what has been a weak secondary on the Lions, the Cowboys owner has no questions regarding his receiver’s effort.
Jones hasn’t been shy about publicly calling out players and saying exactly what’s on his mind. So the fact that he doesn’t question Pickens’ effort means it’s likely a non-issue for the coaching staff as well.
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