The Dallas Cowboys face another must-win adjacent game against the Kansas City Chiefs on Thanksgiving. And while Dallas is clawing tooth and nail to keep its playoff hopes alive in a stacked NFC, the biggest storyline heading into the matchup is CeeDee Lamb's (latest) case of the drops.
Lamb dropped three passes against the Philadelphia Eagles on Sunday, including a go-ahead touchdown with just under four minutes left in regulation that Dak Prescott put right on his shoulder pad. That gives him seven drops in two games versus the Eagles, and his eight drops for the season are tied for the most of any wide receiver in the NFL, even though he missed three games with a high-ankle sprain.
Lamb did not make himself available for comment after the win, but he addressed the media before Thursday's game. The two-time All-Pro didn't sugarcoat a thing.
“Just find ways to get better," Lamb said,via The Athletic's Jon Machota. "You want to be solution-oriented. You’re not really dwelling much on the problem. Granted, we know the problem, I need to catch the f—king ball.”
Cowboys' CeeDee Lamb roasted himself after three-drop game vs. the Eagles
Cuss word notwithstanding, it's nice to see that Lamb has moved past the anger of it all. He was noticeably distraught on the Cowboys' sideline after his dropped touchdown. "Temper tantrum" has been thrown around to describe that scene, and it's not totally unfair.
Lamb also seemed to direct his anger at Dak Prescott after the drop, signaling for Prescott to throw the ball closer to the back corner of the end zone. Prescott admittedly had to wedge the throw in between two Eagles defenders, which may have disoriented Lamb's vision ever so slightly. But again, Prescott threaded the needle. It was a pass Lamb should catch 99 times out of 100.
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With some time to cool down, Lamb placed the blame on himself, similarly to what he did after he was credited with four drops in the Week 1 loss to the Eagles. In order to snap out of this funk, Lamb thinks he has to go back to the basics and not worry about what's happening after the catch.
“I just gotta lock in on my fundamentals,” Lamb added. “There ain’t really too much going on as far as catching the ball. There’s not really anybody in my way. I’m the only one guarding myself, I feel like. We’re going to fix that.”
Lamb admittedly had a monster game in the first Eagles matchup, catching seven passes for 110 yards. But he was targeted 13 times. You don't normally get that level of inefficiency with Lamb. Sure enough, he bounced back in a big way the following week against the Giants, hauling in 9 of 11 targets for 112 yards in Dallas' overtime win.
Throughout his career, Lamb has followed duds with a lights-out performance. The Cowboys will need history to repeat itself on Thursday.
With their playoff hopes on the line, Dallas is going to get the best version of Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs. If Lamb is on his game, America's Team should be right there to pull off the upset.