George Pickens has been one of the most productive wide receivers during the 2025 NFL season in his first year with the Dallas Cowboys. This was not the case in their crucial Week 14 Thursday Night Football loss to the Detroit Lions. His performance was criticized by Richard Sherman, to which he responded.
How Did George Pickens Respond to Richard Sherman’s Criticism?
Sherman is a former Super Bowl champion who now serves as an analyst for TNF on Amazon Prime. He blasted Pickens for his poor performance following the Cowboys’ loss to the Lions, which could be detrimental to their playoff hopes this year. The superstar wide receiver responded to the criticism.
“For myself, personally, you can’t just disappear … It just didn’t go our way,” said Pickens.
Asked George Pickens about Richard Sherman saying superstars can’t disappear.
Pickens on that standard: “For myself, personally, you can’t just disappear.”
Pickens added that the Lions’ scheme made things difficult for him, but opened up others.
“It just didn’t go our way.”
— Joseph Hoyt (@JoeJHoyt) December 5, 2025
The former All-Pro cornerback called out the wide receiver for his effort, suggesting he didn’t do enough to help the Cowboys potentially win. He implied that he should have stepped up more after CeeDee Lamb exited early with a concussion, but instead believes that he essentially disappeared.
“George Pickens, throughout the game, especially late in the game, just looked uninterested in playing football. And that’s what you can’t have. If you’re going to be a superstar, if you want to be the best receiver in the NFL, you can never be disengaged … It doesn’t matter if the game is going your way or not. You can’t just disappear in these games … That’s just unacceptable,” said Sherman.
He entered the contest ranked among the top five players in the NFL in receiving yards and touchdowns, but turned in his worst statistical performance of the year when the Cowboys needed him the most. He failed to score a touchdown and posted a season-low 37 yards in the defeat, putting their entire season in jeopardy.
The loss drops the Cowboys to 6-6-1 and leaves them with four games remaining on their schedule. They are currently out of a playoff spot, so a win here would have been huge to their overall outlook down the final stretch of the season. They are instead massive longshots and will need a ton of help to get to the postseason.
Pickens still ranks third among all wide receivers in PFSN’s Impact Rankings for this season, trailing only Puka Nacua and Jaxon Smith-Njigba. Dallas is getting a strong statistical return on their investment to acquire him from the Pittsburgh Steelers, but it hasn’t quite translated to the win column as much as they hoped it would.
