FRISCO, Texas — There’s a cliché that wide receivers are divas because of how those who play the position demand the football be thrown their way.

That certainly can stem from a receiver’s attitude, but it’s also a byproduct of the position itself. Quarterbacks touch the football on every play, and on running plays, running backs can rack up double digit touches in a hurry.

New Dallas Cowboys wide receiver George Pickens certainly didn’t sound off like a diva after receiving only four targets, and catching three of them for 30 yards, in the team’s 24-20 Week 1 loss at the Super Bowl LIX champion Philadelphia Eagles. There’s no anger directed toward head coach Brian Schottenheimer, the team’s offensive play caller, and quarterback Dak Prescott after he totaled his four targets while No. 1 wide receiver CeeDee Lamb received 13 targets, 7 of which he caught for 110 yards. Notably, Lamb also dropped four passes, marking a new career high and the most by any NFL player in a game since 2021, per CBS Sports Research.

“Just really staying open for them [Schottenheimer and Prescott]. I’m not really worried about the touches, catches, all that stuff,” Pickens said on Wednesday. “I’m just trying to stay open for the team. I’m trying to focus on the first win.”

Schottenheimer, who isn’t a first-time NFL play caller but is a first-time NFL head coach, acknowledged there were a couple more plays where Pickens could have seen the football go his way despite battling Eagles No. 1 cornerback Quinyon Mitchell for most of the night.

“Each week is going to be different. George is an incredible player. They did cloud to him quite a bit, but each week is going to be different. You never go in and say ‘OK, you get 13 or 14 targets, and you get 4.’ We never do that. The ball kind of goes to certain spots,” Schottenheimer said on Monday. “Looking back at the film and even watching with Dak a little bit ago, there was one or two potential possibilities where the ball should have gone to George. The cool thing about George is he was so into the game. He affects the game in a good way, and I never felt one time that he was pressing, which is a great thing.”

One of the ways Pickens positively affected the game without registering a catch was a critical pass interference penalty on Mitchell that set Dallas up at Philadelphia’s 12 on the Cowboys’ second drive of the game. Three plays later, running back Javonte Williams was in the end zone for his second touchdown of the day to give Dallas a 14-7 lead. For Cowboys fans and Pickens fantasy managers who are apprehensive about Pickens being a decoy while Lamb is the sole star of the Dallas passing game, have no fear. Schottenheimer’s game day play sheet possesses a whole list of plays with Pickens as the No. 1 option just like he has a list for Lamb.

“I showed CeeDee before the game all of his targets. So on the back of your call sheet, you have to get the ball to certain people, and it was like ‘CeeDee look at all your targets.’ Literally, George’s was right below him, and I was like ‘look at all of George’s targets.’ Obviously the way we’re designing the game plan is to feature your playmakers,” Schottenheimer said. “It’s very evident that those two guys are elite players. I think that’s why [Eagles defensive coordinator] Vic [Fangio] and those guys played us the way they did. … So again, it’s more of them just knowing ‘hey, we see you. You’re a great player. We’re going to try to get you the ball as much as possible.’ There’s only one ball to go around. A lot of it is the two of them have such a great relationship that George was happy with CeeDee with his production. Guess what? When it flips, CeeDee will be happy for George and vice versa.”

One play in which Schottenheimer wasn’t happy with Pickens was when his aggression cranked up a little too high, which resulted in an unnecessary roughness penalty that knocked Dallas out of the red zone in the third quarter. That was with 5:33 left in the third quarter and on the first play following running back Miles Sanders’ 49-yard run. Four plays later, Sanders fumbled on the Eagles’ 11, and Dallas never got that close to the end zone the rest of the night in a 24-20 defeat. That penalty is what Pickens was thinking more about after Thursday’s game rather than his target share.

“Really, I just didn’t want to get the penalty in the red zone,” Pickens said. “That’s the only thing I was thinking about. We’re close right there, and we can get another touchdown on the board. … After the game, that’s what I was thinking about because we were right there in the area to score, and then you take us out of there and then Miles had the fumble. So just a series of events.”

Of course, Schottenheimer spoke with his 24-year-old wideout regarding how he needs to tone down how he finishes his run blocking.

“We talked about it. We approach all things like that. He came in too high and slung the guy down, and it was a good penalty. And obviously they got the hit in the head to Fergie, which kind of took it away. But, we just talked about it,” Schottenheimer said on Wednesday. “You can’t hurt the team. And I love the physicality that George plays with, but all of us, you can’t do stupid shit. And I’m not saying that was the only stupid thing that we did, but like things that hurt the team, like that, you can’t do that, especially in the red zone. And so you point it out, you coach it, and at the end of the day, it’s stuff that when it comes to a close game, it can hurt your ability to win.”

Some Dallas Cowboys fans are concerned about Pickens, who is in the final year of his rookie deal in 2025, having a lackadaisical approach to his route running when he isn’t featured as one of the first two options on a play. However, Schottenheimer claims that isn’t something he questions or worries about with his explosive No. 2 receiver.

“Absolutely not,” Schottenheimer said when asked about his concern regarding Pickens’ effort on his routes. “Again, I wish we would have got him more targets, you know quite honestly. I thought they did a good job taking him away. Listen, I’m the biggest George Pickens fan in the world: as a teammate, the way he plays the game. He plays the game the way we want everyone to play: on the edge but don’t go over the edge. That one example was him, probably could tone that down a little bit. Or at least strike the guy lower, and it doesn’t get called.”

Pickens could easily see his number called more frequently in Week 2 against the New York Giants, a team who ran man coverage on 27.4% of their defensive snaps, the 12th-highest rate in the NFL in Week 1, in their defeat against the Washington Commanders. New York specifically used new No. 1 cornerback Paulson Adebo to shadow Commanders No. 1 wide receiver Terry McLaurin in Week 1.

“When you’re traveling, you’re going up against a receiver, but I feel like the preparation is the same,” Adebo said, via Giants wire. “You kind of just dial yourself in on one guy and focus on whatever the play call is and executing your technique. But I don’t think there’s too, too much into it.”

When Pickens sees a cornerback traveling the field with him to continually set up one on one matchups, his eyes light up.

“Yeah, man on man, mano y mano, one on one basketball,” Pickens said. “You definitely want to kill in those moments and then identify zone when you see it.”

That’s certainly something Schottenheimer will keep note of entering Week 2.

“Quite a bit. We want to be multiple, you know that,” Schottenheimer said when asked how much he still has left in his offensive bag. “You’re always looking to tweak things. And hopefully by Week 15, we’re still keeping people off-balance.”