Cowboys' Brian Schottenheimer addresses George Pickens tipping pitches theory

Dallas Cowboys wide receiver George Pickens endured a rough outing in Dallas' Week 1 28-20 loss to the rival New York Giants on Sept. 13, as he committed at least two costly drops in the defeat.

It turns out he may have been more of a negative for the Cowboys that evening than casual fans realized. 

Does George Pickens need to be more careful ahead of snaps? 

As shared by Sean Deveney of Heavy, a video shared on X (formerly known as Twitter) suggested that Pickens was tipping pitches and possibly giving plays away by when he did and/or didn't put his mouthpiece in ahead of a snap. 

During a Friday appearance on Dallas sports radio station 105.3 The Fan, Cowboys head coach Brian Schottenheimer was asked about the potential Pickens-related controversy. 

"I am gonna have to go to our analytics department and ask them about this because that is honestly the first I have heard of it," Schottenheimer said. "Maybe it is on my desk. It might be a big stack of paper that says 'GP’s Mouthpiece.' But I do know this. If it is in fact true, it is probably a pretty good tell because it is the biggest mouthpiece I have seen."

In total, Pickens tallied just three catches for 28 yards on six targets in the loss to the Giants. While Cowboys fans were understandably disappointed with his outing at MetLife Stadium, Schottenheimer insisted earlier this week that "George will be just fine" and that the coach doesn't "worry about George." 

Cowboys do self-scout to look for tells

"We start Monday, after the players leave, every Monday we start with what we call 'self-scout,'" Schottenheimer continued. "So you always start with yourself. You always start with, 'Okay, hey, in this personnel grouping when you’re in gun and the back is to the tight end or away from the tight end,' or, 'Hey, when we're in this front on defense,' you always start with that because you want to adjust some of those stronger tendencies." 

If nothing else, Washington Commanders coaches may not be thrilled that somebody shined a light on Pickens' alleged tendencies. The 0-1 Cowboys host the 0-1 Commanders this coming Sunday, and DraftKings Sportsbook had Dallas as a 3.5-point home favorite for that game as of late Friday morning. 

As for the Giants game, Schottenheimer acknowledged the Cowboys "did not play to our standard" this past Sunday night.