Cowboys got a glimpse of how explosive they can be with CeeDee Lamb, George Pickens. Is it sustainable?
When Dak Prescott fielded a snap with 4:38 to play in the first quarter, his first read was wide receiver George Pickens.
But up the middle of the field, a streaking CeeDee Lamb raised his arm to indicate an opportunity. The Washington Commanders’ presnap disguise had melted into a version of Cover 2 defense after the snap, leaving Lamb with a window in which to catch a deep ball. Prescott muscled a pass his way, two Commanders defenders colliding as Lamb turned upfield and headed home.
The one-play, 74-yard scoring drive would soon cap. But first, Lamb jogged the last yards to the end zone at a tauntingly slow pace, Pickens’ arms extended to either side as Pickens escorted his fellow receiver to pay dirt.
“At that point, that turned into our touchdown,” Lamb later said of Pickens celebrating with him before and after he scored. “It’s whoever brings the ball in and I feel like, with that, short, sweet and simple — let’s continue to do that and many more in the future.
“What we’ve got going, it’s fun.”
The Cowboys played what head coach Brian Schottenheimer believed was their most complementary game through seven weeks in a 44-22 home thumping of the Commanders that brought them back to .500 (3-3-1).
Dallas’ defense improved with a heavier man and blitz emphasis against a highly injured Washington team, and running back Javonte Williams gashed the Commanders for 116 yards and a score, averaging 6.1 yards per carry.
The turnovers and defense-deflating run game contributed to the Cowboys’ victory. But the headlining dominance came from the trio of Prescott, Lamb and Pickens in Lamb’s first game back from a high ankle sprain.
The Sept. 21 injury sidelined Lamb for the better part of four games. During that stretch, Pickens stepped up and caught 24 passes for 427 yards and five touchdowns.
Heading into the Commanders game, Cowboys fans wondered: What would the offense look like with its full complement of weapons? Could Lamb and Pickens not only coexist in the passing game, but also elevate each other’s play?
Combining for nine catches, 192 yards and a touchdown, the answers are trending toward yes. Also trending toward yes: the verdict that Lamb and Pickens are the best wide receiver duo Prescott has enjoyed.
The quarterback paused when asked that after the game, jokingly telling reporters “don’t say that too loud” with former teammate and three-time Pro Bowler Dez Bryant by the team’s locker room. After further consideration, he agreed.
“They are, and that’s credit to them,” Prescott said. “That’s credit to the way they show up and work each and every day. That’s credit to the standard that they have for themselves. That’s credit to the love they have for one another, the way that they push one another. They definitely are.
“Those dudes are unbelievable.”
Lamb on Prescott’s heater: ‘All the critics … you don’t hear too much of that going on now’
As Prescott, Schottenheimer and more said after Sunday’s game, any celebrations of a powerhouse Cowboys team are premature. The club is merely .500 and heavily tilted toward relying on its offense. While Dallas’ defense shut down Washington this week, the Commanders were also short a full three top receivers, quarterback Jayden Daniels (hamstring) for most of the second half, and top pass-rusher Dorance Armstrong after less than one series.
But even Washington head coach Dan Quinn wasn’t chalking up the Cowboys’ performance to simply a roster health imbalance.
“Injuries are not the reason we lost,” Quinn said. “It doesn’t make up the whole margin to me.”
Most gutting to Quinn: the Cowboys’ explosive plays.
Lamb’s 74-yard touchdown traveled the longest of the day and second-longest of his five-year career, but Pickens contributed his own explosives as well.
Consider the Cowboys’ possession just before halftime, after the Commanders scored with 49 seconds to play to narrow Dallas’ lead to 20-15. Washington was optimistic, especially after sacking Prescott for a loss of 7 yards on the first play of the half’s final drive.
The Cowboys faced second-and-17 with 31 seconds to go. But Prescott saw Pickens race up the left sideline, a step ahead of cornerback Marshon Lattimore, and he unleashed. Pickens caught the ball in stride for a gain of 44 yards. Running back Javonte Williams’ 33-yard break up the middle took the Cowboys to the 2-yard line, Prescott finding Ferguson for the touchdown with 15 seconds to play.
The Cowboys’ 27 first-half points would outpace Washington’s production all day. The Prescott-to-Pickens connection jumpstarted the drive.
“I just put that one out there and kept Lattimore in his back pocket and let it fall in,” Prescott said. “He has a great natural ability of late-handsing the ball and holding the defender off and that makes my job easier.
“The trust is through the roof.”
That was evident earlier in the first quarter, too, when Prescott hit a toe-dragging Pickens near the right sideline for 24 yards, the quarterback later describing the ball as “a little under thrown and a little outside, but he goes and makes an unbelievable catch.” Playing with receivers like Lamb and Pickens, Prescott said, gives him confidence he can take calculated shots and either land a big gain by yardage or by penalty as defenders interfere.
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As of Sunday night, Prescott’s 16 passing touchdowns this season ranked second behind the Los Angeles Rams’ Matthew Stafford (17) while his 1,881 passing yards trailed only the Los Angeles’ Chargers Justin Herbert at 1,931.
“I mean, all the critics that was going on, you don't hear too much of that going on now,” Lamb said. “I’m sure he’s going to continue to do that.”
Can Prescott, Lamb, Pickens continue to team up after 2025 season?
It’s unclear how long the Cowboys will keep their passing-game trio together.
Two-thirds are under team control through 2028.
Dallas extended both Lamb and Prescott to mega contracts entering the 2024 season, Lamb netting $34 million a year while Prescott reset the market heftily at $60 million. Even so, the Cowboys sent third- and fifth-round draft picks to the Steelers in May for Pickens and a sixth-rounder. Pickens’ salary, still in his rookie contract, is $3.66 million. The receiver market has soared in recent seasons, the Cincinnati Bengals’ Ja’Marr Chase commanding $40.25 million a season in an extension last year.
Cowboys fans are eager to keep the group together. And a franchise tag could come into play.
But after team owner and general manager Jerry Jones traded away star pass rusher Micah Parsons in August, will he want to carry Pickens’ expensive extension on the books?
Complicating factors could be the overlap in the two players’ Athletes First representation.
Jones downplayed that concern after the game.
“Don’t pay any attention to that at all,” he told reporters. “Too much was made of that, OK? That the agent actually had something to do with the ultimate decision of where we are [when] it almost had zero to do with it, period.
“I was going to be where I was with Micah relative to dollars and cents. I don’t care who represented him.”
Jones praised Pickens’ ability to “really establish himself in Lamb’s absence,” noting how both receivers are difference-makers that leave the team owner feeling “as good about that offense as I have in a long time around here.”
Will those good feelings be enough for an extension? The Cowboys’ performance, in the passing game and holistically as a roster, will influence that as they face a stingy Denver Broncos defense next week and eventually progress to the stickier part of their schedule.
Beginning Nov. 23, the Cowboys will face a four-game gauntlet of the Philadelphia Eagles, Kansas City Chiefs, Detroit Lions and Minnesota Vikings.
The Cowboys will hope their defense has settled into the post-Parsons era by then, their offense continuing to fly high as it does now, leading the league with 390.6 yards per game and ranking third with 31.71 points a contest.
Lamb and Pickens will aim to keep piling the explosives on opponents — and hoping it’s enough to extend their partnership beyond this season.
“I’m watching my dog go crazy for the last four weeks, I’m pretty sure he enjoyed it,” Lamb said. “But just taking the load off him a little bit and making them play true to the offense and to what we’ve got going, it’s fun.”
With Lamb’s return to the lineup, that only ramps up, Pickens said.
“More explosive,” he said. “We got to be true to the offense. And when you got all of us out there, you can’t guard all of us.”