By A to Z Sports,Mauricio Rodriguez

Copyright yardbarker

Dallas Cowboys wide receiver George Pickens arrived at The Star with all kinds of negative narratives following him from Pittsburgh. Questions about how good of a teammate was he tainted what otherwise appeared to be a great football move by the front office. Not only have the Cowboys not see any negative behavior from their new wide receiver, they’ve seen the contrary. That includes leadership in the huddle in the biggest of moments as the Cowboys battled it out with the New York Giants in what ended up as an overtime 40-37 win.

Tyler Smith praises Pickens’ leadership in the huddle after Cowboys’ win

Cowboys left guard Tyler Smith, a former second-team All-Pro, knows a thing or two about leadership in football. It’s one of the reasons why Dallas just signed him to a $96 million contract extension. So when he acknowledged a teammate’s work leading the team, we should listen.”I think George had a huge game today and I know people only see the highlights, but you heard what he was saying in the huddle, I think that really just speaks to who he is as a man,” Smith told reporters. “He was like, ‘Y’all just keep going, you got to keep going till you make it home. Like, keep going.’ When the score wasn’t going our way, when we [were not] moving the ball the way we were supposed to, he was pushing us to keep going every single play.”That is a huge compliment for Pickens, who has rarely—if ever—heard this kind of comment about him throughout his career. In his days as a Steelers, he was known as a good player, but a locker room problem. Smith’s message, however, speaks volumes about what Cowboys head coach Brian Schottenheimer and others said about him in the offseason. None of that has shown up in Dallas. Pickens is being a heck of a teammate for the Cowboys. And the team is acknowledging it. “I appreciate that, as a man, as a brother,” Smith added.

As for Pickens, he’s even showing his leadership when being asked about his first touchdown as a Cowboy, which put the team ahead in a crucial moment of the game. “It’s definitely a relief [to have scored], especially I’ve been wanting to get a touchdown, I wanted to get in that [score] box,” Pickens said postgame. “But like I said, it’s definitely for the team. That’s definitely where I’m at because I know what type of guys these are. So with special plays like today, you can win a lot of games.”

Dak Prescott expects better football from Pickens moving forward

Though Pickens had 68 receiving yards in two catches, he drew two defensive pass interferences that gained the Cowboys offense an additional 45 yards. He and quarterback Dak Prescott are clicking. But the latter believes the connection is going to improve. “They keep pass interferencing him,” Prescott joked. “We’re good. We can get better. Me and CeeDee (Lamb) can get better. All of us can get better. That’s the standard and that I’ll hold us all to in the sense of practice. We’re never going to say ‘we’ve made it, we’re complacent in our relationship and there’s no room for improvement.’ So, we can definitely improve more.””It’s continuing to grow and it’s in the right direction and I’m proud of just the work that he’s put in and the trust that we have in each other,” Prescott added.

Having a top-tier No. 2 wide receiver gives the Cowboys offense another dimension that Prescott has rarely enjoyed throughout his career. The leadership impact only makes it better. But at the end of the day, the football reasons to be excited about Pickens are even more obvious.”He’s huge,” Prescott said about Pickens. “He’s a guy who’s going to win one-on-one or if not draw fouls. Very physical. He’s a mismatch for damn near any DB in this league. And so they’re going to have to double him and that’s your troubles right there. You want to double him or do you want to double CeeDee? And if you double both, then at that point, other guys got to win, whether it be (Jake Ferguson, KaVontae Turpin, Jalen Tolbert), or the backs.”

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