George Pickens — Week 2: Eight Targets, Forty Yards
2026 NFL Season · Half-PPR Scoring · Monday, Sep 21
Pickens caught 6 of 8 targets for 40 yards and four first downs with a long of 12, and converted two of his four third-down targets; the one inside the ten, third and five at the Washington six, went for no gain and Dallas kicked a field goal. His holding penalty took a 25-yard Javonte Williams run off the board, and CeeDee Lamb had 153 yards on nine targets, in a 37–20 win over the Commanders.
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Seven to nothing, Cowboys, five 46 left in the first quarter, third and five at the Washington six. One snap earlier an interception in the end zone had been wiped out by a Washington offside. Dak Prescott threw short right to George Pickens, who was stopped at the six for no gain. −1.7 expected points added — expected points added is what a play was worth given down, distance and field position — and −3.1 points of win probability, the chance of winning the game after the play against before it, the third-worst Dallas pass or run of the game by expected points. Dallas kicked the field goal.
The line: eight targets, six catches, 40 yards, no touchdown, four first downs, +0.5 expected points on the targets, longest 12, twice. The catches: four on third and two on the opening drive; the no gain; 12 short middle on the first snap of the second-quarter touchdown drive; nine on third and one to the Washington 19, with an unnecessary roughness penalty added, one snap before Jake Ferguson's touchdown; three on second and 11; and 12 on second and three with 10 oh seven left in the third. The two incompletions were a deep right on first and 10 on the opening drive, 31 yards in the air, and a short right on third and 14 with five 19 left in the half. Four third-down targets, three caught, two converted. Six targets before halftime, two after, and none after 10 oh seven of the third quarter. 83 air yards on the eight throws, and two yards after the catch on the six receptions.
He shows up once more in the play-by-play. With seven 23 left and Dallas up 30 to 20, Javonte Williams ran right end for 25 yards, and a holding call on Pickens brought it back to a two-yard gain and first and 18. CeeDee Lamb's 35-yard catch two snaps later erased it.
Eight targets were second on the team to Lamb's nine, 26 percent of the throws per the weekly stat file; Ryan Flournoy had six, Williams and Ferguson four each. Between the two lead receivers it was Lamb nine targets, eight catches, a hundred 53 yards and two touchdowns; Pickens eight, six, 40, none. Lamb's targets were worth +11.4 expected points, Pickens's +0.5.
Back in June the preview put Pickens on the watchlist — the tenth receiver off the board at pick 24 after a top-five finish that leaned on the four games Lamb missed, when he was a different player than the complementary piece he was with Lamb active — and it named the target share with a healthy Lamb as the entire question. Week 1 was six targets, 28 yards and three deep incompletions. Sunday the share was there and the production was not: 14 targets through two games against Lamb's 17, 68 yards against a hundred 97, no touchdowns against three. The deep throws went to Lamb this week, four for four; the one to Pickens fell incomplete. Two games is a short ledger, and so far it reads the way the preview's split did. Dallas plays the Ravens on Sunday the 20-seventh at Maracana Stadium, a neutral site where the Cowboys are the listed home team.
_Data via nflverse._
When George Pickens's week moves the numbers, you'll know — every episode, in one weekly email.
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