George Pickens has been the Dallas Cowboys’ biggest star throughout the 2025 season. He had arguably his worst game of the year Thursday night in Detroit.

The standout wide receiver caught only five of his nine targets for 37 yards in Dallas’ 44-30 loss to the Lions at Ford Field. More alarming than the stats was how Pickens looked on several plays, seemingly lacking effort on routes and attempts to haul in passes.

After re-watching the game, Cowboys coach Brian Schottenheimer said he did not think effort was an issue for Pickens.

“At the end of the day, I don’t think any of us coached or played well enough,” Schottenheimer said. “Just really felt like when watching the film that there were opportunities out there for guys to make plays that didn’t, on both sides, really all three phases. I thought we were a little slow to adjust on offense and the same thing with the defense. When you get into a one-score game, you got to get stops.

“But all in all, I’m going to judge George on his body of work, man. His body of work, he has shown what an elite player he is and what a game-changer that he is. I have no question.”

Pickens entered Thursday night’s game second in the NFL in receiving yards at 1,142 (95 per game) and tied for third in receiving touchdowns with eight.

George Pickens had at least 78 receiving yards in each of his last seven games until being held to 37 vs. the Lions. (Lon Horwedel / Imagn Images)

“He didn’t have the game he’s been having,” Cowboys owner Jerry Jones said Friday on 105.3 The Fan in Dallas. “But effort, I would be very careful with him going there. This guy is explosive with his temperament. I say that in a positive way. I don’t think so much that it was effort, but I don’t necessarily have a good explanation as to why he didn’t show up more.

“I’m not at all concerned going forward about Pickens.”

Even if that isn’t an area of concern for Jones, there are several others that should be coming out of Thursday night’s game.

Here are five concerns that stood out most and need to be addressed as the Cowboys (6-6-1) hold onto their slim playoff hopes — even if they win their four remaining games — when they return to AT&T Stadium on Sunday night to play the Minnesota Vikings (5-8).

1. Pass rush

Jadeveon Clowney being ruled inactive after attempting to warm up before the game was a significant blow to the Cowboys. The veteran edge rusher has been playing well lately, recording two sacks in Dallas’ previous game against the Kansas City Chiefs. The Cowboys didn’t come close to getting enough pressure on Detroit’s Jared Goff, who is one of the NFL’s least-mobile quarterbacks. Goff was only sacked once after being sacked six times in the Lions’ previous two games.

The Cowboys are in good shape at defensive tackle, but they need help at pass rusher. At this point, it would be surprising if Dallas didn’t spend one of its two first-round picks on the position.

“Goff is an outstanding passer when he gets the time,” Jones said Friday. “He’s a statue. I say that positively. He’s not the move-around, escape guy out of the pocket. So, we had our ears pinned back. We should have been able to do better on stopping the run, plus get some pressure on him.”

2. Defensive backfield

This should be the area the Cowboys target with their other first-round pick. Dallas is unlikely to draft a safety in the first round, so cornerback is much more likely. But both spots need upgrades. There’s a good possibility that the Cowboys’ top three cornerbacks next season end up being DaRon Bland, Shavon Revel and a player they draft with a top pick. Bland has had an underwhelming year. Revel struggled badly against Detroit. The lack of pass rush didn’t help things, but the corners weren’t close to being good enough Thursday night. Bland and Revel were the only two Cowboys to play all 62 defensive snaps. It’s also clear that the secondary hasn’t been as good when a healthy Malik Hooker isn’t on the field.

Trevon Diggs could be ready to return this week from his most recent knee injury, but he has also struggled this season. Pro Football Focus doesn’t have a Dallas cornerback graded in the top 35. Bland is the highest at 36, followed by Reddy Steward (54) and then Diggs (69). Hooker is their highest-graded safety at 39. Juanyeh Thomas is next at 61, followed by Donovan Wilson at 83.

3. Offensive line

Starting left tackle Tyler Guyton was again inactive because of his ankle injury. Jones said Friday that in his opinion, Guyton will be able to return next Sunday. He won’t fix everything, but his return should be an upgrade. Nate Thomas got the start again Thursday night. While he has been solid in previous starts, he did not play well against the Lions. But he wasn’t alone. The entire line allowed way too much pressure on Dak Prescott.

“We had a tough go of it inside our trenches (Thursday) night,” Jones said. “That was unexpected. That was a real puzzler for me watching it. … Their defensive front did whip us on the offensive line. It did.”

While issues on the offensive line could point to needed upgrades, it’s probably more about that group playing together. There’s a good chance going into next season that Dallas’ starting offensive line will be five players on the current roster: Tyler Smith, Cooper Beebe and Tyler Booker on the inside, with Guyton at one tackle spot and either Thomas or Terence Steele at the other.

“I didn’t think our sets were great,” Schottenheimer said. “I thought we set a little bit passive. When you set as a tackle on the outside, you want to set on a plane to go meet the defender. What we did is we kind of set and then we kind of started to turn, and when you start to turn, you begin to take your outside shoulder and it starts pulling you back at the end zone behind you and it shortens the edge. We didn’t set very firm. We didn’t set very aggressive.”

4. Taking care of the ball

When the Cowboys were playing well during their three consecutive 12-win seasons from 2021 through 2023, they were arguably the NFL’s best at taking care of the ball on offense and taking it away on defense. They led the league at plus-14 in 2021. They were second in 2022 at plus-10. They were tied for fifth at plus-10 in 2023.

They are currently minus-8. Only the New York Jets (minus-12) and Minnesota Vikings (minus-12) have been worse. The Cowboys didn’t record one takeaway against Detroit and turned it over three times.

They need to do a better job of taking the ball away, but the bigger issue is the offense. Eighteen turnovers on offense is just too many for a team trying to make the playoffs. The biggest issue has been too many instances of sloppy ball handling.

“You can’t win, not in the NFL, and not against a team like that, being minus-three in the turnover battle,” Prescott said. “Simple as that. Whether it be the interceptions, the fumbles, we’ve got to stop that. I know I’ve had an interception with the last three games or so, and obviously two (Thursday). Who cares whose fault it is, right? The ball leaves my hands, I trust where it’s going. We’ve got to make plays, and we’ve just got to stop turning the ball over. If we continue to do that, turn the ball over an interception a game, we’re just not going to give ourselves a chance.”

5. Special teams coverage

Tom Kennedy isn’t even Detroit’s primary kickoff returner. He was in that position against the Cowboys because Kalif Raymond (ankle) was inactive. Kennedy had 89 kickoff return yards in 2021 and 167 last season. He totaled 120 on three returns Thursday night, receiving a game ball in their postgame locker room. The most critical came with just under four minutes to play after Dallas pulled to within 37-30. Kennedy returned the ensuing kickoff 42 yards, giving the Lions the ball at midfield. They scored three plays later.

Outside of Brandon Aubrey’s continued dominance as the NFL’s best kicker, not much has been special about Dallas’ special teams unit. The Cowboys are near the bottom of the league in kickoff and punt return average. KaVontae Turpin, who had a punt and kickoff return touchdown last season, really hasn’t come close to scoring this year.

“It really comes down to very simply our leverage was poor,” Schottenheimer said after rewatching the game. “Some guys weren’t holding their leverage. Some guys were trying to make a play, going from keeping their outside arm free and jumping on an inside gap, and they took advantage of us. … They exploited the seams, and we have to be better. We did not do a very good job of keeping our leverage, and that hurts your ability to squeeze the returner.”