George Pickens was targeted three times in Houston on Sunday. Two of those throws produced 75 yards, and both came at moments that shaped the Dallas Cowboys' 34-30 win.
The first was a contested 53-yard catch, the longest play of the game, that set up the second of Dallas' four second-half touchdowns. The second was a 22-yard grab on the final drive that, in the Associated Press' view, turned a tying field goal into the fallback rather than the plan. Two snaps later, CeeDee Lamb caught the 12-yard touchdown with 40 seconds left.
For most of the afternoon, the Texans shaded a second defender toward Pickens, the AP reported. Lamb was the beneficiary.
Where the ball went
Lamb finished with 17 catches for 189 yards on 21 targets, career highs in both targets and receptions, according to ESPN's box score. Cowboys Wire noted he fell one catch short of Jason Witten's franchise record of 18.
The AP counted 11 of Lamb's catches as first downs, three of them on third down, along with a 21-yard reception that converted a second-and-18 in the opening minutes of the fourth quarter.
Coach Brian Schottenheimer described the arrangement as the design of the 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," he said, according to the AP. "When George got his opportunity, what does George do? He makes plays."
Pickens framed the quiet day the same way. "It's engineering victory," he 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."
Dak Prescott added that doubling both receivers leaves the next layer of the passing game in single coverage. "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," he said.
That layer mattered Sunday. Ferguson converted a fourth-and-4 with a 7-yard catch to keep the winning drive going, and Flournoy caught four passes for 37 yards, per ESPN.
