Why Cowboys’ George Pickens was fined $17,389 vs. the Cardinals
Cowboys player George Pickens explained before kickoff how quickly he’d meshed in Dallas, praising Dak Prescott’s command and describing a brother-like rapport with CeeDee Lamb.
The wideout’s production has tracked that chemistry, with explosive plays and a physical edge that has given the Cowboys’ offense a different gear even as the team searches for steadier week-to-week form.
The NFL fined Cowboys wide receiver George Pickens $17,389 for unsportsmanlike conduct, ruling that he taunted Cardinals cornerback Denzel Burke by holding the ball toward him on the sideline during Monday night’s game, as noticed by Tom Pelissero.
He was flagged on the play as well. The clip and images show Pickens extending the ball inches from Burke after stepping out of bounds, a gesture officials deemed over the line.
It was a flashpoint in a national-audience game Arizona ultimately controlled, and it reinforces a league trend this season of coming down hard on gestures that officials interpret as baiting or verbal abuse.
For Arizona, the infraction fit a larger theme of composure. Jonathan Gannon’s defense kept its cool, leaned on young secondary pieces, and forced Dallas into mistakes while avoiding the kind of retaliation flags that flip field position. The Cardinals matched that discipline with smart situational offense, building a cushion the Cowboys could not erase late.
Pickens, for his part, has openly credited Prescott’s on-field “march” and pre-snap awareness for making his transition smoother than expected after the trade from Pittsburgh.
He also acknowledged that Dallas’ defense has to steady itself for the stretch run. That storyline will linger, but so will the lesson from Monday: the league is policing sideline theatrics tightly, and even brief taunts are costing players real money.
Rookie cornerback Denzel Burke then authored the moment of the night, intercepting Dak Prescott down the right sideline on fourth-and-28 with 1:30 remaining to seal Arizona’s 27–17 win.
It was Burke’s first career pick and the Cardinals’ third takeaway, capping a five-sack, three-turnover performance that snapped a five-game skid and sent them into Week 10 with renewed juice.
Ben Johnson’s homecoming a key moment for Jared Goff
If you’ve been on NFL Twitter at all in the last few days, especially if you’re a Lions fan, you’ve probably seen the stat.
Detroit Lions quarterback Jared Goff is now 3-17-1 in his career without either former Lions offensive coordinator Ben Johnson or Los Angeles Rams head coach Sean McVay calling plays. Detroit’s offense looked anemic in their season-opening 27-13 loss to the Green Bay Packers, and Goff received the lion’s share of ridicule from social media.
And yeah, it’s a pretty damning statistic. It’s a bit shortsighted to act like wins are a quarterback stat straight-up, but a win-loss record that poor has to say something, right?
It’s what led media personalities like ESPN’s Peter Schrager to declare Johnson “already 1-0” as a head coach before the Bears even took the field. (The Bears lost in Week 1, making Johnson 0-1 as a head coach.)
After one game, Goff is already being written off as nothing more than a game manager who benefitted from ingenious playcallers that made him look better than he really is.
But let’s take a closer look at those McVay/Johnson-less starts.
Goff's Week 2 matchup against Ben Johnson has huge implications
Goff’s seven starts without McVay in Los Angeles came nearly a decade ago when he was a rookie on a 4-12 Rams team that fired its head coach in December. The 14 starts in Detroit without Johnson were from the 2021 Lions team that had an all-new coaching staff, a midseason offensive coordinator change, and a roster that was largely devoid of talent on both sides of the ball.
And that’s not to make excuses for Goff. He certainly could have played better both in 2021 and his rookie year, but it’s important to remember where those starts were within the context of his career. In 2016, he was an overwhelmed rookie on a team that had no chance at being competitive. In 2021, he was a castoff quarterback who was viewed by many as a throw-in in the Matthew Stafford deal to make the money match.
Which is to say, coordinators notwithstanding, Goff isn’t the same player as he was in 2016 or 2021. He’s evolved into one of the NFL’s smartest and most accurate quarterbacks, and has the most touchdown passes in the NFL since 2022. Of course, he still has his limitations as a creator and dealing with pressure, and his success does have lot to do with Johnson and the talent around him. It's the ultimate team sport, after all.
But still, you have to think Goff wouldn’t be able to produce at nearly that high a level if he was truly just a scrub who didn't bring anything to the table himself.
This is a big moment for Goff. If he flounders at home on Sunday and loses to his old coordinator, the narrative that he can’t win without Johnson or McVay will only grow louder. But in the building, they’re not dwelling on comparisons to last year's offense.
“I don’t feel like there is a narrative in here about anything last season,” Goff said Wednesday. “I think we’re very aware that last year we had a good year, and this year we’re 0-0 and now we’re 0-1. Very aware of the reality of that, I don’t think there’s anything from last year that comes into this year and gives you a head start. We know it starts over and we have to find a way to get a win this week.”
The whole Lions team is going to come out angry after last week and wanting to take out its frustrations on its former coordinator. But, as is typical in the NFL, the quarterback might have just a bit more to prove than everyone else.
