Secret behind George Pickens’ game-securing catch says a lot about Cowboys and Brian Schottenheimer’s work as play caller
The Cowboys secured the win by throwing it to George Pickens on the final moments of the game.
With no timeouts, 45 seconds on the clock, and the score tied at 21, Dak Prescott needed his offense to get yards to secure a game-winning field goal attempt for the Dallas Cowboys. At that point, no one at AT&T Stadium nor watching on TV around the world had any doubt where the football was going.
It had to be George Pickens, who had eight catches for 122 yards and a touchdown at that point. Like he has been most of the season, he was an unstoppable force on Sunday. And indeed, Prescott found him once more for another 24 yards. It wasn’t his most impressive play of the game but it was the most important one. Moments later, Brandon Aubrey would hit a 42-yard field goal attempt to win the game 24-21.
But even a “simple” catch is complex in the NFL. After all, this was Brian Schottenheimer’s most important play call of the day. So, what was behind it? A to Z Sports NFL’s expert Kyle Crabbs breaks down the nitty gritty for us, including a secret element of the play that allowed Pickens to be wide open.
Expert analysis on George Pickens’ crunch time catch shows collective effort, good play design
Kyle: There were plenty of individual reps on Sunday afternoon in which George Pickens was flexing his elite physical ability.
The 24-yard completion to set up Dallas’ game-winning score was not primary among them, but there were several other impressive elements that deserve a nod for bringing this catch-and-run completion to life. First and foremost, this rep is a good example of why timing on plays matters. Dallas motions KaVontae Turpin across the formation to run a basic slant/flat combination to the boundary. Pickens, who had Eagles cornerback Quinyon Mitchell over top of him at the play in coverage, runs a free release slant that gets rubbed open as Eagles nickel Michael Carter II runs directly into Mitchell at the snap. The timing of Dallas’ snap and Turpin’s position appeared to have Carter II believing that Turpin was going to wheel vertically up the sideline, and so in mirroring Turpin he starts to run over top of Mitchell to stay leveraged for a shot down the sideline.
But Turpin snaps his stem into the flat for an outlet in the flat, and Carter II responds by trying to plaster down immediately, running into Mitchell’s coverage path and creating the self-inflicted pick. If the timing of this motion wasn’t well-coordinated to present that threat vertically, Pickens may not have gotten rubbed clear for the catch and run.
Quarterback Dak Prescott also deserves credit for HIS timing on this play, too. The Eagles mugged linebacker Nakobe Dean up into the front-side B-gap at the snap and fired him on a blitz, but Prescott did not panic and trusted his running back, Javonte Williams, to step forward and pick up the blitz. Rather, Prescott executed his three-step drop from under center, got his cleats in the ground, and ripped the slant with both Williams and Dean squarely in his lap.
It would have been very easy for Prescott, or any other NFL quarterback, to slide in the pocket or bail with that dirty pocket in an effort to buy more time and space to throw. Doing so would have neutered the impact of Pickens’ catch and run and potentially limited the run after catch total. Or, it could have slammed the door shut on the play completely and forced Prescott to waste valuable time outside of structure with Dallas holding no timeouts. Even worse, Prescott could have slid into pressure and taken a costly sack. Instead, Prescott trusted his back and stayed true to the execution of a very simple passing concept. And the Cowboys struck gold as a result.
Mauricio: We all know George Pickens is having a monster year but you have to love Kyle’s point about the built-in rub element that springs the star receiver open. Brian Schottenheimer has done plenty of good things in his short time as Cowboys head coach, but his play-calling in high leverage moments has been questionable at times. Scheming your best playmaker open in the biggest moment of the game is exactly what you want to see.
As for Prescott, he’s been a master of hiding pressures by getting rid of the ball quickly while still pushing the ball down field. And the reason why he trusted Williams in this spot? His running back has been one of the best in the league in pass protection. Williams showed up in just about every big play of Sunday’s game thanks to his work as Prescott’s personal bodyguard in the pocket.
The Cowboys are a longshot for the playoffs but one thing is for sure: The offense has the upside to go on a run and it’s because of collective efforts like these.
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Wild.
