Cowboys owner Jerry Jones shuts down concerns over George Pickens’ effort

The Dallas Cowboys came into Week 14 as one of the hottest teams in the NFL, but the Detroit Lions and their explosive offense put that out in a blink on Thursday night. The Lions gained even more ground in the NFC playoff race with a very impressive 44-30 win over the Cowboys.

The Dallas offense was far from a problem in this game, but when playing against a high-scoring offense like the Lions’ that your defense can’t slow down, your offense has to be clicking on all cylinders.

That wasn’t the case in this one for the Cowboys, as CeeDee Lamb left the game early with a concussion and George Pickens had arguably the worst game of his breakout season.

Pickens still finished with 37 yards on five catches, but he wasn’t his usual self. His effort seemed to come and go throughout the game, and he was caught jogging a number of routes that could have been caught, including one that was intercepted at the start of the second half. Legendary cornerback Richard Sherman blasted Pickens for his effort after the game.

Effort has been a problem with Pickens in the past during his time with the Pittsburgh Steelers, but this is really the first time it has popped up in his first season with the Cowboys. On Friday, Dallas owner Jerry Jones revealed that he doesn’t think it will be an issue moving forward, via Joseph Hoyt of Dallas Morning News.

“I would be very careful going there,” Jones said. “I don’t think so much it was effort, but I don’t necessarily have a good explanation to why he didn’t show up more.

“I’m not at all concerned going forward.”

With the Cowboys now sitting at 6-6-1, they likely have to win their final four games to make it into the playoffs. Lamb is potentially going to miss time with an injury, so Pickens will have to be back to his best for the final month of the regular season and another showing like he had on Thursday night just isn’t going to cut it. Based on the way the rest of this season has gone, he should be able to bounce back in short order.

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