LAS VEGAS — This emotional night for the Cowboys started with tributes to Marshawn Kneeland, who passed away 11 days ago.
The team wore T-shirts with his face on them and a helmet decal with his number 94. They also left a jersey on the bench, and held a moment of silence and said prayers for his family.
Then the game started, and there was no George Pickens or CeeDee Lamb on the field. It was relayed to the media that both would miss the first series due to disciplinary reasons.
Once that was complete, Pickens and Lamb put on a show.
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The Cowboys’ 33-16 victory over the Raiders on Monday night was fueled by Pickens, who continues to make noise that once he hits free agency next spring — if he’s not franchised — his price will skyrocket.
Maybe not skyrocket. How about: How much is enough?
Officially, Pickens had nine catches for 144 yards and one touchdown.
If Pickens meant to make up for missing the first four plays of the game and also showing out for Kneeland, that’s fine. But if you look at Pickens’ season, he’s been fantastic since the first day.
He’s headed toward the second 1,000-yard season of his career. In 2023, Pickens set a career high with 1,140 receiving yards.
Can he surpass that in the next seven weeks of the season? It’s quite possible because he’s just that good, and with an elite quarterback in Dak Prescott, he’s finally able to flourish much better than he did in Pittsburgh.
There were times Monday night when Pickens made things look easy.
“I’ll probably just say running the ball hard, that’s one thing I was emphasizing tonight, after catch,” Pickens said. “I knew they were going to be having a lot of zone drops, definitely run after catch.”
Pickens was the star of a scoring drive that ended with a Prescott touchdown pass to Ryan Flournoy.
On a second and four, Pickens made a five-yard reception look like a highlight reel. He caught the pass, spun away from cornerback Kyu Blu Kelly until he was finally brought down. Later in the drive, Pickens, on third and four, made two defenders (Lonnie Johnson Jr. and Darnay Holmes) miss as he ran across the field with the ball.
It took end Malcom Koonce to tackle him after a 21-yard pickup.
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On his 37-yard touchdown reception, Pickens ran a route toward the middle of the field, stopped and changed direction, putting Kelly in an awkward spot. It was a foot race afterward and Pickens outran Johnson and safety Jeremy Chinn to the end zone.
Once Pickens got to the end zone, he jumped onto the goal post and straddled it, which drew an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty. The score gave the Cowboys a 24-6 lead.
“I don’t know what made me jump on the goal post,” a smiling Pickens said. “I ain’t going to do that again.”
When Pickens got to the sideline, all coach Brian Schottenheimer could do was smile. He likes Pickens’ enthusiasm but it’s those types of penalties you can’t have in a game, regardless of how bad the opponent is.
“He’s a one-of-a-kind guy,” Prescott said of Pickens. “Special individual. Elite.”
Of course, you can’t just ignore Lamb, another elite receiver who produced. He didn’t have big numbers, five catches for 66 yards, but his 18-yard touchdown reception through zone coverage was the first touchdown of the game.
After the catch, Schottenheimer hugged Lamb and Pickens.
“I told them I loved them man, it’s what we do,” Schottenheimer said. “The role of me as a leader of this football team is to have relationships, I’ve talked to you guys about that for a long time. I gotta be able to have hard conversations with those guys and any of our players. But I also want them to know that when there’s decisions that are made, I love them and I appreciate them. I appreciate the way they play.”
Lamb almost had a second TD reception, as he was wide open on a throw into the flat but dropped the pass with 3:56 to go.
The way the Cowboys’ defense was going, it was fine.
Pickens and Lamb are such a force for this Cowboys team.
“Two elite guys who complement each other,” Prescott said.
That was true Monday night.
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