Dak Prescott explains the frustrating lack of targets to George Pickens in Week 15 loss to the Vikings
Cowboys need to do a better job of involving George Pickens, and Dak Prescott knows it.
When the Dallas Cowboys have been at their best in 2025, wide receiver George Pickens has been involved. But in Sunday’s loss to the Minnesota Vikings?
Three catches for 33 yards was all Pickens could muster. And in contrast to the previous outing that earned Pickens plenty of nationwide criticism, this one felt like the Cowboys didn’t even have the right plan to target him. What went wrong? For quarterback Dak Prescott, the answer is clear.
Dak Prescott admits Cowboys didn’t have a good plan
Throughout the week, you heard it all about the Vikings’ aggressive defense led by one of the most blitz-happy defensive coordinators in the NFL, Brian Flores. Leading up to the game, Prescott even reminisced about that one time Flores sent Cover-0 (man coverage, no safety help, 6-7 man blitz) over 20 times versus Lamar Jackson.
And yet, the Cowboys weren’t ready for it. When asked about Pickens’ lack of involvement, Prescott pointed toward the Vikings’ Cover-0 looks.
“Honestly, just the zero looks and things like that,” Prescott said. “Simple as that, anytime we were in a passing situation or passing downs and they were giving us that look, we tried to throw him just a quick smoke — not early, well late honestly — and maybe we should have done it earlier. Maybe we should have just thrown him a slant. A lot of ‘maybes.’ I’m frustrated. This was one of the toughest ones I’ve been a part of.”
Maybe Prescott is right about the slant routes, though it sure felt like the Vikings — just like Detroit a week ago — were sitting on it. The Cowboys failed to have a changeup going into this one.
Brian Schottenheimer’s offense shut down by Cover-0 looks
Prescott attributed the “zero” looks to why he struggled to get Pickens the football, but that wasn’t it. Instead, he thinks that’s what overall made the Cowboys struggle in a must-win matchup.
“The zero [looks] that we talked about throughout the week, gave it to us a bunch,” Prescott admitted. “We didn’t have a good enough answer, and when you don’t have a good enough answer for that, especially against Flores, you’re going to see it again and again. That’s what happened.”
Though Cowboys players didn’t execute, the lack of a good answer also falls on head coach Brian Schottenheimer and his coaching staff. After the game, Schottenheimer was willing to admit it.
“They did a good job with their blitz packages,” Schottenheimer said. “They had us confused a little bit, and that starts with me. I’ve got to do a better job with that. Give Coach Flores and his staff some credit, but it comes down to third down. We were pretty good on fourth down, but you can’t go two for 12 [on third down]. We didn’t play very well tonight offensively.”
Pickens’ lack of catches wasn’t all about pressure
Though Schottenheimer, like Prescott, attributed the offense’s struggles to the Vikings’ pressures, he had a different answer on Pickens’ underwhelming stat line.
“A lot of Cover 2 (two deep safeties, zone),” Schottenheimer said. “A lot of different technique things. They change your coverage up a lot. Again, there was a plan to try to limit our explosives, and I think he had six targets and only three catches. That’s not enough. And that starts with me and the offensive staff. We’ve got to find ways to get him the ball better.”