When the Dallas Cowboys started their first series against the Las Vegas Raiders on Monday night, a couple of key players were missing – wide receivers CeeDee Lamb and George Pickens.
The Cowboys registered a 33-16 win over the Raiders on “Monday Night Football” at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas. However, the game results were not the first things on people’s minds after it all ended.
What Did Cowboys WR George Pickens Say?
Pickens and Lamb were on the field for the Cowboys’ second series. In fact, Pickens was quite active during the game as a key target for Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott.
Pickens finished with nine catches for 144 yards and one touchdown. What did Lamb do? He caught five passes for 66 yards and a touchdown, too.
Cowboys WR George Pickens when asked why he wasn’t on the field for the first series: “Certain personnel. We kind of thought they were gonna come out in certain stuff. But they didn’t. They started kinda hunching down on the run, so we started throwing it around a little bit.”…
— Jon Machota (@jonmachota) November 18, 2025
When asked about not being on the field at first, Pickens offered his side of the story.
“Certain personnel,” Pickens said. “We kind of thought they were gonna come out in certain stuff. But they didn’t. They started kinda hunching down on the run, so we started throwing it around a little bit.”
Pickens also was asked about the reasoning behind not being on the field was in regard to Dallas head coach Brian Schottenheimer. He said that he missed a couple of things and added, “That’s just like between me and Schotty, honestly.”
It was obvious that Pickens and Lamb both made solid efforts to be included in the Cowboys’ offensive schemes all game long. They were outsmarting the Raiders’ secondary, even finding holes in there to score their respective touchdowns. Speaking of Prescott, he was 25-of-33 passing for 268 yards, four touchdown passes and no interceptions.
According to the PFSN WR NFL Impact metrics, Pickens has a WR Impact Score of 88.6 and grades out to a B+. For his part, Lamb has a WR Impact Score of 82.3 and grades out to a B-. The Cowboys are now 4-5-1 on the season and head into a stretch where they play a few games close together on their schedule.
But it was a good sign for Cowboys fans and observers to see Pickens and Lamb both have solid games in front of a national television audience.
