George Pickens Says Criticism of Effort 'Starting to Get Kinda Old' Amid Cowboys Woes

Dallas Cowboys wide receiver George Pickens has received much criticism for his performances and efforts over the last two weeks against the Detroit Lions (44-30 loss) and Minnesota Vikings (34-26 defeat).

Pickens, for his part, doesn't want to talk about it, as relayed by Jon Machota of The Athletic.

"I'm kind of more focused on the [Los Angeles Chargers], honestly," Pickens said regarding his team's upcoming home game on Sunday against the 10-win Bolts. uestion on the topic and had this to say: "It's starting to get kinda old, honestly."

He then added: "Everybody has a job to do. Some people's job is to do that, tear down character, see how many clicks they can get. I'm just here to play football and help the team. … It's starting to get kinda old."

Over the first 12 weeks of the season, Pickens caught 74 passes for 1,142 yards and eight touchdowns. However, the ex-Pittsburgh Steeler has just eight receptions for 70 yards and zero scores in his last two weeks.

The criticism got loud after the Lions game on Dec. 4, when Amazon Prime Video panelist (and ex-superstar cornerback) Richard Sherman said he was "uninterested in playing football," looked "disengaged," "disappeared" during the game and even "half-assed it," calling his performance "unacceptable" overall.

Pickens had a response to those remarks in a since-deleted post on an Instagram Story, writing: "This is a team game lmao. I'm not the only one on the team. Stop becoming an analyst and talking about one player when he playin' a team's game. Lots of shh has to go right for explosive plays. And it's funny cause I thought former players would know that such as p---y ass Richard Sherman, who btw ain't shh without the Legion of Boom. We all remember San Francisco, brother. Much love. Don't speak on me unless you know the game of football. As a former player, not a d--kriding fan/analyst that act like double team is not a thing or certain bracket coverages don't exist. Knowing you played ball, which show me you a leach, weirdo. Now Twitter eat this up. Clouted ah wrld."

Sherman then responded back:

As far as why he feels his production has gone down, Pickens said:

Pickens, who is in a contract year, has still has an exceptional season. The last two weeks have been very quiet, but he's enjoyed a breakout year overall with career-high marks in catches, yards and touchdowns, even with three games remaining.

Pickens will try to put the noise aside Sunday when he and the Cowboys play a must-win game against the visiting Chargers. Kickoff is set for 1 p.m. ET.