The box score said George Pickens disappeared. But former NFL quarterback Alex Smith saw something else entirely. When the Dallas Cowboys fell 44-30 to the Detroit Lions on Thursday Night Football, critics lined up to torch the Cowboys’ star receiver. Five catches for 37 yards looked like a no-show, Pickens’ lowest production since Week 1. But Smith went back and watched every snap. His take? Pickens didn’t vanish; he warped the entire game.

“This guy got doubled all game. And when I mean double, I mean cloud. A corner at hard inside at the line of scrimmage, safety over the top,” Smith noted on ESPN’s Sunday NFL Countdown. broke down Pickens’ coverage. “ CeeDee Lamb. There’s a reason he got so many targets in that first half. There was no help with him. It was man-to-man wi

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