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George Pickens Brings a 130-Yard Week Into Lambeau, Where Xavier McKinney Is Waiting
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- George Pickens Brings a 130-Yard Week Into Lambeau, Where Xavier McKinney Is Waiting
George Pickens has a major showdown with Xavier McKinney in Week 6 when the Dallas Cowboys battle the Green Bay Packers.
The last time the Dallas Cowboys clashed with Green Bay, George Pickens caught eight passes for 134 yards and two touchdowns in a 40-40 tie last September. Pickens is coming off his best game of 2026 . The Packers have a safety playing at an All-Pro level ready for him on Sunday night, though, in Xavier McKinney.
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Is Pickens ready for the challenge? He might be, if recent history is any indication.
Pickens went for nine catches, 130 yards, and a touchdown against Tampa Bay last Thursday after CeeDee Lamb left with a quad injury. Pro Football Focus graded Pickens at 85.2, the best mark among Dallas starters, the team's website noted .
McKinney is the reason that matters.
The Green Bay safety picked off Tyson Bagent twice in the 31-7 win over Chicago, giving him three interceptions on the year, tied for the league lead . He has 13 interceptions in 39 games as a Packer and posted a 90.1 PFF grade in Week 5, per our grade breakdown .
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Where the matchup gets decided
Pickens told reporters after the Bucs game that safeties have been sliding toward him.
"I feel like on most of my air routes, the safety would help because it's an in-breaking route," he said last week .
That is McKinney's territory. Green Bay plays two-high coverage 62.1% of the time, good for sixth-most in the NFL, per Sharp Football Analysis .
McKinney also sounds like a player who has been studying Dak Prescott.
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"You can fool any quarterback if you really, really work on that disguise," he told the Packers' website .
McKinney also warned that Dallas would show up desperate, since the team's "backs are to the wall a little bit" in the NFC East.
The rest of the Packers' secondary, mainly who it's missing, makes McKinney's job harder. Cornerbacks Keisean Nixon and Benjamin St-Juste both missed practice time this week, and St-Juste did not practice, per the injury report . If Green Bay has to lean on backups outside, McKinney may need to roll toward Pickens more often, which leaves less help elsewhere.
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Lamb practiced Wednesday and Thursday in full, so Pickens may not be the only target demanding a safety. That could help him. When Lamb was on the field in 2025, Pickens still finished with 93 catches, 1,429 yards and nine touchdowns, all career highs, and made his first Pro Bowl.
The Cowboys still have zero interceptions on defense this season. Green Bay has seven, and McKinney has three of them. If he gets his hands on one of Prescott's deep shots to Pickens, the game tilts quickly. If Pickens wins those contested balls, folks back home in North Texas will be talking about a long-overdue win at Lambeau.
This story was originally published by Athlon on Oct 17, 2026, where it first appeared in the NFL section. Add Athlon as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
