Adam Schefter was on set for ESPN’s Dallas Cowboys and George Pickens blunder, but apparently, he had no idea it happened.
Tuesday morning on ESPN, First Take eagerly aired a clip of what they reported to be a touchdown pass from Dak Prescott to new wide receiver George Pickens on the first play of Cowboys training camp. The problem, however, is that Cowboys camp didn’t start until after First Take was off the air. So, what did First Take air? A years old video of Prescott throwing a training camp touchdown pass to Brandin Cooks.
Molly Qerim later issued a correction, noting the video was not of Pickens while offering an apology. They didn’t, however, note the fact that the video was old and featured a wide receiver who is no longer on the Cowboys.
Schefter was on set for the blunder Tuesday morning. And on Wednesday, Schefter joined 105.3 The Fan in Dallas, where co-host Shan Shariff asked, “When did you realize yesterday that Brandin Cooks was not George Pickens?”
It would have been great if Schefter claimed to recognize the mistake as it was happening. The more likely answer would seem to be that Schefter learned about the error during a commercial break, prior to Qerim issuing the correction. But amazingly, the answer was that Schefter still didn’t know about the blunder.
“Yesterday? You mean like, George Pickens coming out and catching a touchdown on the first play of practice, is that what you mean?” Schefter asked. “Here’s the thing, you want to equate those two players. If George Pickens carried himself the way that Brandin Cooks did, George Pickens would be the greatest wide receiver in the league.”
As Schefter continued to measure Pickens against Cooks, it quickly became clear that he had no idea why Shariff asked the question.
“I’m alluding to the ESPN video that went viral with you guys on set showing the Cowboys practicing when that was from a couple years ago,” Shariff clarified. “Are you not aware of that?”
Schefter was not aware, confirming he didn’t know about the ESPN blunder. Which meant a full day later, he still thought Pickens caught a touchdown on the first play of a training camp practice, hours before the practice was even scheduled to take place!
The mistake wasn’t Schefter’s. And he really would have had to be paying attention closely to catch the error as it played out in front of him on First Take. But it was surprising that nearly 24 hours later, he still hadn’t realized First Take was duped with him on set.
Schefter might be first to a lot of NFL scoops, but he was very late to finding out about ESPN’s George Pickens mistake going viral.