Stephen A. is ECSTATIC after Dallas’ loss 🗣️ ‘They are the gift that keeps on giving!’ | First Take

Stephen A. is ECSTATIC after Dallas’ loss 🗣️ ‘They are the gift that keeps on giving!’ | First Take

the loss. The Cowboys now hold just an 8% chance to reach the playoffs and with a lot of help from other teams, they have a 51% chance if they do win out the rest of the season. So, biggest reason for the Cowboys loss last night in Detroit was what, Cam? Why don’t you go first? Say less. Uh, it’s it came down to turnovers and sacks. And when you start to put into the thought process of what this game was going to come down to, we know and know that the Detroit Lions does not lack talent offensively. Therefore, you have to be able to compete at a high level and put numbers up if need be. Uh the second thing comes down to where was the efficiency? You know, when you start to think about all the things that’s working against you, penalties, they lost a penalty battle. Uh Aiden Hutchinson had 10 pressures alone. So, what about protecting that? And when you add in the factor that CD Lamb goes out, where was George Pickkins? Now, all the focus goes on George. Somebody else has to step up. We have to protect the football. There’s a lot of things that that could have been avoided, but you’re never going to win a football games if you do not protect your quarterback and you do not protect the football. Those are no nos, big no- nos. And that’s the main reasons why the Cowboys lost yesterday. You agreed to bring Yeah, this game was about, and I wrote this down, this game was about schematic aggression and intellectual chaos. This wasn’t about what the Dallas Cowboys didn’t do. This game was about what the Detroit Lions did do. This game was about Dan Campbell and Kelvin Shepard absolutely out coaching Matt Irloose and also Brian Shenheimer. This game was about the fact that we talked about it yesterday. How big of a game does Jir Gibbs need to have? Okay, the Cowboys are stopping him in the run. Let’s utilize him in the pass game defensively. Let’s double when we need to double in the important moments. Let’s blitz when we need to blitz in the important moment. You’re talking about sacks. They went out and won. Hutcherson won. Mohamd won. Jack Campbell won. Jack Campbell punches the football out. DJ Reed finishes the game with an interception. Aik Robertson knocks the ball away from George Pickkins who isn’t playing hard enough. Coming back to the football hard enough and he wants it more. Now Barnes gets the interception. This is after the Cowboys get this game close late in the game. Three plays, 51 yards, touchdown Jir Gibbs. This was all about what the Detroit Lions did. This team had their backs against the wall playing the hottest team in the NFC at home and they showed up from top to bottom. Well, first of all, you know what was that? Intellectual chaos. Yes, I like that. I love that. I love that. I have to steal that’s I have to steal that. That’s number one. I mean, that’s a beautiful beautiful thing. You said I’m brilliant cuz I know I’m not. I take it from other people. This is what I do. But you know something? I mean, I got it RC and I understand it. But you know what it was really about? It was about the Cowboys being the Cowboys. That’s what this is about. We can’t deny it. We can’t deny it. I understand Jameson Williams did his thing. I understand Jir Gibbs did his thing. I get all of that. I also understand that Quinnon Williams had the Cowboys defense looking formidable. Right. Right. What happened last night? 44 points a season worse. Um 400 yards of offense. They’ve surrendered for the fifth time this season. They’re one three and one in those games. Why do I bring this up? Because the Cowboys were trending and right around the time expectations were attached to it because They’ve been looking. I mean, you can’t make it up. I mean, they are the gift that keeps on giving right around Christmas time. What I say, Cam, how many times I said, “What did I say?” I see. I said right around Christmas time. Now, understand. I picked them. You understand? I say cuz I was anticipating the Lord would come a little bit later, right? When expectations would climb a little bit. They didn’t wait. But that’s okay. They waited long enough. They waited till December to do this. Okay? Right when you expected them to ascend. All of a sudden, a game like that happens last night. This is who they are. This is what they do. And let me tell you something right now with Evil Fools, with Brian Shenham, who I like. Who I like. We thought we were go we were seeing something different. Now, if you lose the game because you know something CD Lamb goes down, which he did and that was that looked really, really bad. I hope he’s okay. And whatever, right? Yeah. But then you see Pickkins. Don’t talk to me about schemes. I’m watching Richard Sherman on on on Prime on Prime last night after the game. He’s 1,000% correct. You are a number one receiver talent-wise. You are playing like a number one receiver. You are trying to get your bag. You can’t be seen on tape being lack of days ago with your route running. It’s about effort. I don’t care what the scheme is. You got to you got to show effort when you out there running for a pass. This he was not doing that on several occasions last night. And every network and every radio show told don’t look at me like that, Cam. Don’t do that. You saw him. You saw it. There were several plays caught on camera where he was so lacadasical in his route running. And listen, I’m root for pickings. Okay, the brother is special and I want him to get his bag. But when you know your bag is at stake, you cannot allow plays like that to be on film. Do y’all not watch film after the game? Do y’all not watch film during the week? Y’all played. I did it. Y’all tell me. Don’t the coaches look at you? Don’t they spot stuff like that and call you out when it happens? You got to know that when you trying to get your bag now, and you can’t do that in the end. Last thing I’ll say is this. The Cowboys still have a chance. Their offense is still elite. Their def Everybody ain’t Detroit’s offense. So, we got to be mindful of that. They are completely capable of running the table. But the way I see it, the Dallas Cowboys ain’t going to lose another game and they still gonna miss the playoffs. That’s I knew that was coming. And they still gonna miss the playoff. be so good to you. And I’m just, you know, I mean, I’m just say they just, they just don’t let me down. I mean, when I think about the holiday season and when I think about things that I want to rely upon, who are the best gift? One of the one of the greatest giftgivers is the Dallas Cowboys. They never let me down, man. At 30 straight years, they just won’t do it. And I just want to say I’m touched by it. I truly am. Let’s go back to Pickkins, though, because he struggled yesterday. Five receptions, 37 yards. Prescott 0 of three, targeting Pickkins on passes thrown 10 or more yards down the field. You were making faces at Stephen A. How much criticism do you give George Pickkins? Cam, go ahead. I think this this happens a lot with football players in this position. Ryan Clark, the Dan Olowskis, the Damen Woodies, they know we do not watch film how it is perceived on TV. And if you really have an eye for football and you replay those clips that was thrown to George Pickkins, there was going to be something in common in each one of those clips. There were multiple people around him that by the time the ball came, that’s when everybody else came. So for me, when you start to see what has made George Pickkins as successful as he has been all year, you can’t slant your way to success versus everybody. You can’t hit your way to success. You have to have complexities. You have to move them around. You have to change his landmark. So when I’m looking at, you know, the whole schematics, yes, I do challenge that. George Pickkins is an individual mo most like a lot of receivers, they do have a laxidasical kind of approach to it where they will play possum to try to lo you to to play into their game. A lot of those plays could be broken plays, but not not let’s let’s not rush to judgment to say, “Oh, he was not focused. He’s not a number one receiver.” It’s a lot of things that has determining factors around him. And I’m not trying to take George Pickins’s side more so than saying, “Hey, when we watch film, it’s not the zoomed in extra pixelated, you know, viewpoint.” Every time I saw George Pickkins, you know, it was predetermined routes that was extremely basic on top of throwing it into multiple coverages. I mean, uh, double coverage. So, that’s what I would like to, you know, for the people to understand, you know, in regards to that. Mhm. I’m not going for that, Cam. And let me tell you something right now. You can have your opinion and you’re entitled to it and I respect that. But football people are saying this. There is a debate within the football world amongst football minds who have played and who have been executives in the sport who are going back and forth talking about what they saw in terms of the effort. So, it’s a job of somebody like me and others who haven’t played but have been reporters and covered these sports to go to people like y’all and say, “What did we see? What did we see?” Now, if it’s a bunch of reporters saying that, I’m with you. No problem. But you know what? I was watching television all morning. And when I was in my car, I was listening to radio all morning and it wasn’t nothing but football people talking and everybody was talking about, “You can’t do that. You got to show more effort than And nobody said he wasn’t a number one receiver. Matter of fact, they were saying he was number one. They were saying he’s definitely a number one receiver. They were saying he’s definitely an elite talent. You know what? Me and Swagoo was said interviewing him when we were in Dallas. Had a blast talking to him. I’m rooting for the brother. Want him to get his bag. I’m saying when you know that you trying to get your bag, you can’t put yourself in that position. I get what you’re talking about schematically, Cam. I get that part. But the point is when you are doing your route running and they start bringing up names of the greats and they start saying they didn’t do that, they didn’t do that. I saw Lewis Riddick this morning bring up the words football character. That’s what we’re talking about. And that is what George Lynch has to be mindful of. Those are not my words. I’m sorry. George Ricketts. That is not my words. That is Lewis Riddick’s words. So I’m just saying listen at sometime we got to believe somebody. If RC’s talking to me and Cam’s talking to me, I get your point. But you got you about to make your point. I gotta listen to what the hell you got to say. Yeah. So, first off, for what what George Pickkins has to understand is this entire season, all he’s received is applause. And he’s earned that. Yeah. And so now the booze are going to be as loud as the applause. And Cam used the analogy that sometimes wide receivers play possum. Well, we needed him to be a raccoon. I needed him to be a savage last night. I needed him I needed him. I needed him to go out and show me how much it mattered to him. And just like you, I’m rooting for George Piggin. Just like you, I like George Piggin. And Cam is talking about the way we watch film. Here is how we watch film. Let me talk from a defensive standpoint. When we turn the film on, when you look at your grade sheet, at the end of your grade sheet, there’s something called the loaf. So, let’s say Stephen A is running the football down the left sideline and I’m on the opposite side of the field or the middle of the field. If you’re still running and I’m not sprinting to tackle you, sprinting to get in the film or get into the view, then that’s a loaf for me. This is the same thing we’re seeing from George Pickkins. A loaf. It’s the same thing we’re seeing from George Pickkins. When you run the slant, which Cam, we can’t give him the excuse that the schematics are basics because this is how he won the game last week against the Kansas City Chiefs. He ran a slant. He ran an inside route and then he turned up the down the sideline. He finished the game on an inside route because he ran hard. because he came back to the football. George Pigis knows that that effort wasn’t enough. George Pigis knows that people are watching him just to see these things. And I’m not going to question his football character here. I’m going to question his awareness because see what happened to me was when they told me when Tom Coughlin looked at me and said, “I don’t believe you’re big enough and physical enough to play safety in this league.” You know what I said? I’m going to try to kill everybody I hit from now on. And if I’m gonna be out the league and if they’re not going to give me a job, it won’t be because of that. If I’m George Piggins and I know I am ultimately talented, top five talented, and all they ask for me is effort, you going to have to stop me from running. George Piggin let himself down more than anything last night. But then it also becomes more glaring, Cam, because CD Lamb went down. Correct. Yeah. Cam, come with me. Point to the screen. What am I going to say to you? Don’t let it be you. Don’t Don’t let it be you. But Stephen, but I don’t I don’t even want to boil it down to when CD wasn’t playing because he played that way the entire game. But what I’m saying to you is this. I don’t I don’t disagree with you. I’m just saying there are moments. Everything in life is about moments at some point. And the moment arose where it’s I really got to step up now because the man is gone. Because the man is down. Well, I’m the man, too. And now my partner’s out. So, it’s really on me because if not, I’m leaving Dak hanging. I’m leaving the rest of my crew hanging. And where was it then? So, what I’m saying to you is that even though you’re right in terms of how it should be all the time, there does come a point in time in everybody’s life where there are moments like you got to rise to the occasion and the fact that he did not do that and everybody was talking about it. I don’t think that’s something I dis I disagree with you on this Stephen A. George Pickkins is the man. Like I’m telling you, there are people in football, people who have played football, who believe that George Pickkins is a bigger talent than CD Lamb. Got you. Okay, that’s people that believe that money. Yeah. But people that believe that George Pickkins doesn’t have to acquies to CD Lamb that Dak Prescott doesn’t sit in the pocket and say I have to go to 88 first. He knows that three can make plays. So if I’m George Piggin, I’m going out every single week to prove that whether it’s the Dallas Cowboys, whether it’s the other 31 teams, somebody needs to pay me Jamar Chase type money because I’m Jamar Chase type player. I give Jamar Chase type effort. I’m out here like Jackson Smith and Jigba plays every single week. Puka Nakua, all those people it really matters to. And it frustrates me because I’m like I am rooting for him, right? Whether it’s in Pittsburgh or not, I want him to play well. and he let himself down last night and then turned his team. There’s a play to the sideline where George Pickkins jogs off the the line of scrimmage. The ball is broken up by I believe DJ Reed and they pan to Dak’s face and he’s telling him you got to go. You got to press him. And then you hear uh Kirk Herbstreak say I don’t believe he felt like he was pressed deep. It’s George Pickkins. You should always feel like you’re being pressed deep. And so to me, man, it is an extreme let down what I saw from him. And we al before I go to you Ken we always got we got to bring this up too. Let me preface by saying this may not be fair to George picking but it’s important we all know what a negotiation and we know that when negotiations arrive the other side is always looking for an excuse not to pay you. They ain’t looking for an excuse to pay you. It’s always looking for an excuse not to pay. How can I keep this talent for as minimal of an amount as possible? How can I pull that off? Yeah. And when they go to tapes like that, you know what they’re going to say? Can we trust you? Because we know your talent. Talent’s there. But can we trust you, man? Well, okay. Can we trust you night in night out? 17 games a year during the regular season, the playoffs, assuming we make it because we’re the Cowboys. You never know. The point is, can we rely on you? Can we trust you?

On First Take, Cam Newton, Stephen A. Smith and Dan Orlovsky join Shae Cornette to discuss what happened in the Dallas Cowboys vs. Detroit Lions game.

0:00 Cowboys playoff chances
0:15 Biggest reason for the Cowboys’ loss to the Lions
3:05 Stephen A. on the Cowboys
4:25 Thoughts on George Pickens
8:38 Stephen A. disagrees with Cam Newton
10:29 Dan Orlovsky weighs in on George Pickens
15:00 Final thoughts

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