Bruins Prospect’s Risky Playing Style Could Be His Downfall
It's never a good sign when you type "Matthew Poitras hit" into social media and there's a laundry list of videos of him getting hurt or laid out by contact. The best we've seen Poitras play in a Boston Bruins uniform was in his rookie season in 2023-24, but a right shoulder injury knocked him out in January.
The injury stemmed from some massive contact in a game with Team Canada at the World Juniors, where the Bruins loaned him to get some extra playing time over the holidays. If the front office had known, they would've likely held on to him, as the form he was in during the regular season for the Bruins would've been useful.
Little did the Bruins know that it was the first hit in a long line of contact that Poitras was about to take over the next three seasons. Poitras got through the first few months of his rookie season relatively unscathed, but the book started to get out on him that his hunched skating style and love for the middle of the ice left him wide open for contact.
Opponents started to take liberties with Poitras, and it's a trend that has continued through the first two games of this year's preseason. He has taken some dangerous contact through both games, which has left fans wondering how long it will be until he suffers another injury. The general consensus is that Poitras has to change his ways or risk shortening his career.
The hope is that Poitras will figure it out, but it seems to be getting worse after 114 professional games + all his preseason experience. With Poitras likely to go to Providence with his waiver exemption status, the hope is that he will figure things out with another season of being the go-to guy. However, it wouldn't necessarily be good to make the team out of training camp in your first two seasons but then regress and get cut in your third year.
George Pickens Ready to Lead Cowboys' Offense Without CeeDee Lamb
When there is a player of the caliber of the Cowboys‘ CeeDee Lamb on the roster, there is a certain gravity he attracts that pulls in opponents at all levels of the defense. On the flip side, when a player like Lamb is not there–and he won’t be for a while, as he recovers from a high ankle sprain suffered in Week 3–the offense similarly feels the absence.
After all, in just five years, Lamb has 6,561 yards receiving for the Cowboys, which ranks seventh in team history. His 512 receptions ranks fourth, and he has the single-season record in catches (135) and yardage (1,749). Not bad considering the franchise’s history stretches back seven decades.
Without Lamb, then, his wide-receiver running mate George Pickens says, “You can tell a person that’s missing.”
George Pickens Has Never Had a QB Like Dak Prescott
Indeed. Pickens, however, has been a WR1 before, during his three seasons in Pittsburgh when he tallied 2,841 yards playing with quarterbacks like Kenny Pickett, Mitch Trubisky, Mason Rudolph, Justin Fields, and a washed-up Russell Wilson.
Now, he has Dak Prescott throwing him the ball. And without Lamb, Pickens feels a duty to his quarterback and made a promise to “show up” for him.
“We’ve always got to show up for Dak — all the other receivers as well. We’re just trying to stay on the same page, and hoping [Lamb’s] recovery goes well,”
It’s a good opportunity to build on the 13 catches and 166 yards Pickens has thus far, and to show–as he heads into free agency next winter–he should be paid like a top-end WR2 or a mid-range WR1.
“Oh, it’s a great opportunity,” said Pickens. “I already kind of showcase, but I just want to show up for Dak, and show for the team and get a dub. … I just have to make plays, run the right routes and, you know, show up for Dak.”
Cowboys’ Dak Prescott Confident
Prescott was asked about Pickens, too, and expressed confidence that he can make up for Lamb’s absence.
“I’m very comfortable, and very confident, in what he’s gonna do, where I expect him to be, and where he expects the ball. Those communications are continuously happening,” Prescott said on Thursday.
“A conversation we just had out there today was one that was needed after a couple of incompletions on a certain ball — just getting back at it and us having the same mindset of how we’re gonna attack that route. He’s a great player. I told you all that from the time he showed up. These receivers, guys like George, CeeDee, they make it easy for that chemistry to grow.
“They go do their job and I just talk to them a little bit about what I expect here, what I expect there, and they go make plays; and so I’m looking just to continue to build on what we’ve only started.”
Cowboys Won’t Change George Pickens Role
While it might look from the outside that the Cowboys are handling the offense differently in Lamb’s absence, coach Brian Schottenheimer said that’s not the case. The Cowboys have been using Pickens to test defenses deep, and they’re going to continue to do so without Lamb, starting with the Packers in Week 4.
“George is always going to be a focal part of what we’re doing, whether CeeDee is out there or not,” Schottenheimer said. “That doesn’t really change. I would say George’s role doesn’t really change. It’s more of some of the other guys around him that would change.”
