‘Explosive and physical’

ARLINGTON, Texas — There is a cliché that the NFL stands for Not For Long, given that the average player’s career length is just over three years. However, that saying can also be applied to Dallas Cowboys Pro Bowl wide receiver CeeDee Lamb’s period of being dormant, from Weeks 3-5 when he caught 12 passes for 138 and one touchdown combined across in a stretch that included a home win over the Patriots and road losses at the Cardinals in Week 3 and at the 49ers in Week 5.

Following the loss at the 49ers, Lamb, who totaled four catches for 49 receiving yards, said “I don’t know” three times postgame when asked what the Cowboys’ offensive identity was. His thoughts on the team’s offensive identity couldn’t have been more in contrast to that statement on Sunday following consecutive 100-yard games in a Dallas sweep of the Los Angeles Chargers — the Cowboys won 20-17 at the Chargers in Week 6 as Lamb caught all seven of his targets for 117 receiving yards — and the Los Angeles Rams: the Cowboys won 43-20 versus the Rams at AT&T Stadium in Week 8 on Sunday.

“We’re explosive and physical,” Lamb said postgame on Sunday. “I say that with full ability and capability, we know what we can do week in and week out, and we can definitely take the top off a defense.”

The 24-year-old totaled career-highs across against the Rams with 12 catches for 158 receiving yards and two receiving touchdowns. His big day propelled him to 308 catches in his four-year career, which makes him the quickest player in franchise history to hit 300 career receptions, doing so in 56 career games, as well as solidifying himself as the second-fastest Cowboy to reach 4,000 career receiving yards, trailing only Pro Football Hall of Famer Bob Hayes, who did so in 52 games.

“Very satisfying,” Lamb said of his performance Sunday. “It proves my ability. It proves that I trusted myself. and it proves that my team trusted me, so I appreciate it for them and love that for me. We have to keep building… Not necessarily surprised because that’s what we’re looking for week in and week out. That’s how we should play and that’s just more of a stepping stone to what’s to come.”

He was primed for a peak performance from kickoff on Sunday, hauling in nine catches for 122 receiving yards and both touchdowns in the first half against Los Angeles. That included catching all three of his targets for 26 yards on the opening drive, a possession that was capped with an 18-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Dak Prescott, who finished with 304 passing yards, four passing touchdowns and one interception on 25-of-31 passing.

“I don’t know that we’ve had a more dominant role played by a receiver,” Cowboys owner and general manager Jerry Jones said postgame on Sunday. “I can’t remember who because he was in on everything we were trying to do on every series. Obviously, you’ve seen him play at that level. We’ve all seen him play at that level, but I don’t think he’s had so many opportunities [Lamb’s 14 targets are tied for his second-most in a game in his career] as he had out there today. It was a phenomenal game for him, career game for him.”

His first touchdown occurred in the first few minutes of the second quarter when Lamb hit his defender with a lean to the left before chopping his feet and hitting a hard in-cut back to the right for a 10-yard score on a slant route, extending Dallas’ lead to 23, 26-3.

CeeDee TD! @dallascowboys up 26-3.

📺: #LARvsDAL on FOX
📱: Stream on #NFLPlus https://t.co/Quwvdzpx7G pic.twitter.com/WSlOvggWzY

— NFL (@NFL) October 29, 2023
“I got started early and it kind of opened up the offense for us,” Lamb said. “It’s huge, honestly, just get in the game early get the defense on their heels, obviously they’re going to be focused on me, so giving them a reason to focus on me and then I want all my guys to explode.”

The second score displayed the obvious on-field chemistry between Prescott and Lamb. Prescott and the Cowboys offense coaches spoke at length multiple times over the last two weeks — after their win against the Chargers, during the Cowboys’ bye week and in the lead-up to this Week 8 showdown — about the quarterback involving his legs more throughout the game, as both a designated rusher and scrambler looking to pass. Prescott performed the latter function on this play, and Lamb shadowed his movement perfectly to find the gap in the Rams’ zone coverage for a wide-open, 22-yard touchdown pass.

“Honestly, it wasn’t a bit scheduled, Dak did a great job scrambling out of the pocket and then I did my best of being open and staying open.”

.@_CeeDeeThree scores his 2nd touchdown 🔥

📺: #LARvsDAL on FOX
📱: Stream on #NFLPlus https://t.co/Quwvdzpx7G pic.twitter.com/wFjF33IABD

— NFL (@NFL) October 29, 2023
The scoring strike appeared natural, but that’s the kind of play the Dallas duo has been working on for months, if not years.

“A lot of work and a lot of time put into it,” Prescott said postgame on Sunday of his and Lamb’s on-field connection. “We talk about the positive of work and being able to withdraw when you need to and you can go back into the offseason from the time we started back in April or even before then in my backyard. The time we spent in minicamp/OTAs, trips out to Atlanta, a lot of time invested, a lot of trust in that guy. He runs, he knows what I’m thinking, and we’re always communicating. I think that’s why when it’s not going our way, it’s frustrating because we put so much into it. We’re reaping the rewards of everything we have put into this and it’s only going to continue to grow because all that does is give everybody – himself, the whole team, the play-caller, everybody more confidence in getting him into positions and allowing us to go to work.”

“Staying open man, that’s all I can do, and at my position he’s relying on me and I’m relying on him,” Lamb said. “We built the trust coming in, this year three together, or four, dang, I’m getting old! But it’s year four together, a lot of trust.”

For Dallas head coach Mike McCarthy, the team’s offensive play-caller, is more than happy to keep pressing the “throw to Lamb” button over and over again because on Sunday, those plays looked easy.

“You can clearly see the connection,” McCarthy said postgame. “It obviously started last year but with the offseason, these guys have spent a tremendous amount of time together. The one touchdown throw was a new wrinkle. You only have that kind of patience as a quarterback unless you truly trust the receiver at the top of the stem there [on the first touchdown pass to Lamb]. It was a tight window too. Hopefully, it just keeps going too. We obviously know that people are going to continue to try to double and tilt towards him [CeeDee Lamb] and it’s important to keep moving him around. Yes, Dak [Prescott] and CeeDee [Lamb] are definitely connected and they had a big day today.”

Prescott’s and Lamb’s connection became even stronger after the two worked through the receiver’s frustration with not being as involved in the offense in Weeks 3-5 as the fourth-year pro would have liked, but now the results they are reaping on the other side are exactly what both were hoping to achieve with hope of even more explosive days going forward.

“That was just doubling down and making sure he and we understand we put a lot of work into this, ‘don’t get frustrated,'” Prescott said. “‘Don’t allow people to see your frustration of when things aren’t going our way.’ That’s the National Football League. None of this is going to be easy, but that’s when we’ve got to be better. That’s when we have to trust one another more…. These last two two games have been a big picture of that. It’s only going to get better, and we’re only going to continue to work and communicate with one another. Mike is doing a great job of putting him in positions to create matchups.”