FRISCO, Texas (AP) — George Pickens didn't get many chances while fellow receiving star CeeDee Lamb was posting career highs in targets and catches and scoring the winning touchdown for the Dallas Cowboys against Houston.
The impact of Pickens' only two receptions in the 34-30 victory illustrates perfectly what coach Brian Schottenheimer believes about the Dallas offense.
Pickens had the toughest grab of the game on the longest completion — a contested
53-yarder to set up the second of four second-half TDs for the Cowboys (2-2). He had perhaps the most critical catch, a 22-yarder that made a go-ahead touchdown a reasonable option compared to a tying field goal in the final minute.
Two plays later, Lamb's 12-yard catch from Dak Prescott put Dallas ahead with 40 seconds remaining, the last piece of what the Cowboys see as the perfect puzzle for their offense.
“The beauty of our offense is if you want to try to take away George or try to take away CeeDee, we got another guy over there that’s pretty good,” Schottenheimer said. “When George got his opportunity, what does George do? He makes plays. That’s the beauty of the offense.”
Lamb had 189 yards receiving on career bests of 21 targets and 17 catches. Pickens finished with 75 yards. It wasn't unusual for both of them to reach 75 yards in the same game in their first season together in 2025.
What was unusual in this case was Pickens being so quiet almost the entire game — but ending up with two of Dallas' three longest plays.
“It’s engineering victory,” Pickens said. “When you’re doing that and it’s part of the plan, and you never know what a defense will do, they’ll probably switch it up, double him. It’s definitely engineering victory.”
Tampa Bay (0-4) could very well switch it up on Thursday night, when the Cowboys finish a challenging two-week itinerary with a second consecutive game against a winless team.
The long completion to Pickens was one of the few times the Texans didn't bring a second defender his direction. With Houston shadowing Pickens, Lamb had 11 first down catches, three on third down. He had a 21-yard grab on second-and-18 early in the fourth quarter.
“If you’re going to do that, the numbers are in favor of CeeDee,” Prescott said. "If you’re going to play CeeDee like that, the numbers are in favor of George Pickens. If you want to play both of them, you’re leaving guys like KaVontae Turpin, Ryan Flournoy, and Jake Ferguson, guys that I’ve got a great rapport with, one-on-one and we’re going to attack it however we can.”
To Prescott's point, the Cowboys don't win without Ferguson's 7-yard catch on fourth-and-4 early in the winning drive.
The Cowboys aren't where they want to be with the running game, ranking in the bottom third of the NFL in yards rushing and yards per attempt. But it's not keeping lead back Javonte Williams out of the end zone. He had three rushing TDs against the Texans and has seven total touchdowns (two receiving). It's the most through four games for a Dallas back since Emmitt Smith had nine in 1995.
There were questionable decisions in game management from Schottenheimer again just a week after they were a huge issue in the final seconds of a 34-31 loss to Baltimore in Rio de Janeiro. The worst was having Brandon Aubrey try a 65-yard field goal when the Texans had used all their timeouts late in the first half.
Aubrey missed with 26 seconds left, Houston picked up 9 yards on two plays and Ka’imi Fairbairn kicked a 54-yard field goal as the half expired, giving the Texans a 16-6 lead. There's little question a punt would have kept the deficit at seven, and Houston would have won by three without Dallas' late drive.
Newly acquired CB Joey Porter Jr. got himself up to speed enough in just three days to play nearly 50% of the snaps. According to Next Gen Stats, he was targeted just once in 19 coverage snaps, and not at all in the five times he was on Texans star Nico Collins.
Situational awareness hurt the Dallas defense again a week after allowing a 27-yard completion that gave the Ravens a winning field goal when they got the ball back with just 7 seconds remaining. The Cowboys got caught in man-to-man on a hook-and-lateral play that converted a third-and-14 and set up a go-ahead TD for Houston.
Pro Bowl LG Tyler Smith is eligible to return from injured reserve after having thumb surgery just before the season started. Schottenheimer has sounded optimistic about him playing despite the short week. LB DeMarvion Overshown also could return from a hamstring injury.
18 and 17 — Lamb bought his most tickets for a game (18) and then had his most catches (17) in his first visit to Houston, near where he grew up after Hurricane Katrina forced the family out of New Orleans.
The Cowboys are near the end of a two-week stretch that included 10-hour flights to and from Rio, another a road game and now a short week. There will be some sighs of relief late Thursday night regardless of the outcome.
___
See AP’s full NFL coverage here
