Rich Weighs In on Whether the Dallas Cowboys Should Trade WR George Pickens

The Dallas Cowboys survived the Indianapolis Colts on Sunday, but nobody at The Rich Eisen Show was ready to call it a good day for them. Rich opened by admitting the crew had thought about checking on TJ, the resident Cowboys fan, during the game.

The reason: Dallas had another double-digit lead in front of it, and the Colts came "off the mat like the Undertaker." A massive breakdown on defense gave up a big touchdown to make it a one-score game, then the game was tied, then Brandon Aubrey missed a field goal that gave Indianapolis a chance to drive for the win. Dallas pulled it together in the end, but Rich's point was simple. "You should not be in the home of a team that is pulling itself apart and trying to pull a win out of the fire."

One Cowboys fan at the table said he'd predicted on Twitter with three minutes left that Dallas would play for a field goal and the Colts would answer with a touchdown with seconds to spare. "I've seen this movie," he said. It didn't happen, though he admitted they sure tried to make him look like Nostradamus.

There were positives. Dak threw for 335 yards, and CeeDee Lamb nearly had a 200-yard game, despite a couple of offensive pass interference calls the table found ridiculous. But the defensive number is ugly: the Cowboys have allowed 20 or more points in 16 straight games, extending the longest such streak in franchise history. And the 49ers are coming next week. "Boy, do they want to make an example of the Dallas Cowboys," came the warning.

Then there's George Pickens, who sat with a hamstring issue. That raised immediate suspicion on the NFL Network set, where the question was whether the Cowboys were holding Pickens out to keep their options open for Tuesday's deadline. It was noted that Pickens had seen his snap share go down in the two weeks before the injury.

Dak was asked whether the team already has enough if it stands pat. "Yeah, I do," he said, while crediting Jerry and the front office and encouraging them to add if they can. "It's on us now. Period."

So would the Cowboys trade Pickens? The consensus at the table was that it doesn't make Dallas better this year. Someone floated a Maxx Crosby for Pickens deal, which would make both teams better, though everyone agreed that's not happening.

The case for Pickens staying was made plainly. "If Pickens gets traded, that would be now two teams that see his remarkable talents and said, not for us. Which is another reason why Pickens should try to make it work in Dallas, because he's got a great setup where he's not the only guy there."

Stephen Jones said the Cowboys haven't received calls about any player on the roster, which the crew joked "isn't great either." The more charitable reading: teams assume Dallas isn't selling because it's still in the mix. "Everyone gives him crap," one voice said of Jerry, "but he will make a move."

From there it turned into an NFC East argument. Asked what it would take to believe in the Giants as more than "winners of the worst division," Chris said the Giants would have to beat Jacksonville and San Francisco, and win because of their quarterback. That drew a challenge: why does it have to be the quarterback? The pushback pointed to a Super Bowl the Giants once lost to a team "with all due respect to our friend Trent Dilfer," that didn't win because of its quarterback. Chris countered that he was talking about this year's team.

Chris said even a 15-10 Giants win wouldn't impress him. The response: "They're not in the impression business."

And then TJ planted his flag. "Dallas is going to win the East," he said. "They have the better quarterback. They have the better offense. And this is an offensive league."

The other side of the table stuck with its own pick, as it has all along. "My flag is planted indeed."