The Cowboys’ devastating Week 5 loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers at AT&T Stadium had fans booing from the stands. But few people were as disappointed as wide receiver George Pickens. The 24-16 loss had Pickens hurling his helmet to the ground and screaming in frustration, especially since the Thursday game showcased his best performance so far this season, and still ended in defeat. 

Speaking to The Exhibit journalist Josina Anderson after the game, Pickens revealed that what frustrated him most was running out of time. The wide receiver explained that he had figured out the Buccaneers’ scheme when he saw them focusing on interception. 

“I felt like everybody was the same way. Just disappointed,” Pickens said. “Me most definitely, because I’m definitely one of the biggest competitors. So soon as I seen them intercept the ball, I knew the Bucks was going to try to run the clock out.”

Pickens pointed out that the Cowboys had barely managed to get their hands on the ball in the second quarter. The trend continued in the third quarter as well, giving the Bucs a massive 14-point lead which the Cowboys failed to close by the end of regulation.

After CeeDee Lamb struggled to find his groove in the game and ended up aggravating his quad injury, Pickens stepped up in his place. He recorded nine receptions for 13 targets, 130 passing yards, and one touchdown. But it still wasn’t even to even out the playing field in time.

Anderson went on to ask the Cowboys wide receiver about his thoughts on losing to a previously winless team led by an undrafted rookie quarterback, who made his first start in Week 4. When asked if he felt like the team was out of alignment despite winning against the Houston Texans, another team who has remained 0-4 across the first four weeks of the regular season. Pickens admitted that the whole team had believed they had the Week 5 game in the bag.

“I feel like we was ready to go. I just feel like you got to win the games, you know what I mean, that you supposed to win, you know what I mean?” the Cowboys WR added. “So whether that’s extra detail or or if you ready to go, then having detail with on top of your enthusiasm, on top of your energy, just as if we was playing the Chiefs and I feel like those couple components of the game of football should be every game.”

He felt that while Dallas respected every team they played against, being even more detail-oriented and incorporating the opponents’ strengths and weaknesses in their strategies could take away the stress of worrying about whether they could win in any specific matchup.

Pickens on HC Brian Schottenheimer’s Play-Calling Adjustments

The Cowboys wide receiver also spoke about head coach Brian Schottenheimer’s comments on play-calling. It is no secret that Buccaneers head coach Todd Bowles is famous for his blitz-heavy defensive packages that added extra pressure on the opposing quarterback.

The Bucs certainly executed that strategy well, limiting Dak Prescott to just one touchdown and 316 passing yards. Although Schottenheimer made adjustments to accommodate Bowles’ blitzes, the team was already in disarray and failed to execute those adjustments well enough to make a difference.

“I feel like it’s a different look, not in our division. So certain looks are going to catch people’s eye of what we’ve never seen before. But definitely I feel like we switched the plan up and kind of start doing how we usually would do, but I just feel like we ran out of time.”

Schottenheimer also spoke about the disappointment of being 2-3 after Week 5. He emphasized that the team would evaluate every element of what went wrong by reviewing the tapes and the stats to figure out a solution ahead of their Week 6 game against the Packers.

Cowboys have showcased a trend of making impressive recoveries after a poor showing in early weeks of the regular season. But it remains to be seen if they can beat the odds this season under Schottenheimer’s guidance.