When there is a player of the caliber of the Cowboys‘ CeeDee Lamb on the roster, there is a certain gravity he attracts that pulls in opponents at all levels of the defense. On the flip side, when a player like Lamb is not there–and he won’t be for a while, as he recovers from a high ankle sprain suffered in Week 3–the offense similarly feels the absence.

After all, in just five years, Lamb has 6,561 yards receiving for the Cowboys, which ranks seventh in team history. His 512 receptions ranks fourth, and he has the single-season record in catches (135) and yardage (1,749). Not bad considering the franchise’s history stretches back seven decades.

Without Lamb, then, his wide-receiver running mate George Pickens says, “You can tell a person that’s missing.”

Indeed. Pickens, however, has been a WR1 before, during his three seasons in Pittsburgh when he tallied 2,841 yards playing with quarterbacks like Kenny Pickett, Mitch Trubisky, Mason Rudolph, Justin Fields, and a washed-up Russell Wilson.

Now, he has Dak Prescott throwing him the ball. And without Lamb, Pickens feels a duty to his quarterback and made a promise to “show up” for him.

“We’ve always got to show up for Dak — all the other receivers as well. We’re just trying to stay on the same page, and hoping [Lamb’s] recovery goes well,” Pickens said.

It’s a good opportunity to build on the 13 catches and 166 yards Pickens has thus far, and to show–as he heads into free agency next winter–he should be paid like a top-end WR2 or a mid-range WR1.

“Oh, it’s a great opportunity,” said Pickens. “I already kind of showcase, but I just want to show up for Dak, and show for the team and get a dub. … I just have to make plays, run the right routes and, you know, show up for Dak.”

Prescott was asked about Pickens, too, and expressed confidence that he can make up for Lamb’s absence.

“I’m very comfortable, and very confident, in what he’s gonna do, where I expect him to be, and where he expects the ball. Those communications are continuously happening,” Prescott said on Thursday.

“A conversation we just had out there today was one that was needed after a couple of incompletions on a certain ball — just getting back at it and us having the same mindset of how we’re gonna attack that route. He’s a great player. I told you all that from the time he showed up. These receivers, guys like George, CeeDee, they make it easy for that chemistry to grow.

“They go do their job and I just talk to them a little bit about what I expect here, what I expect there, and they go make plays; and so I’m looking just to continue to build on what we’ve only started.”

While it might look from the outside that the Cowboys are handling the offense differently in Lamb’s absence, coach Brian Schottenheimer said that’s not the case. The Cowboys have been using Pickens to test defenses deep, and they’re going to continue to do so without Lamb, starting with the Packers in Week 4.

“George is always going to be a focal part of what we’re doing, whether CeeDee is out there or not,” Schottenheimer said. “That doesn’t really change. I would say George’s role doesn’t really change. It’s more of some of the other guys around him that would change.”