The latest news around the Dallas Cowboys.
CeeDee Lamb addresses behavior during Cowboys’ loss to Ravens, more – Patrik Walker, DallasCowboys.com
Credit to the Dallas Cowboys star wide receiver for addressing his behavior from Sunday.
On Tuesday, just ahead of the departure for the Big Apple, Lamb not only spoke, but his words were drenched in accountability and self-awareness.
“I know that’s not the player I am,” Lamb said, apologetic after being apoplectic. “I know that’s not the teammate I am. … It was a bad game on my end. I fully take accountability in that.
“I will be better in the future. And it’s gonna be fine.”
He went on to explain what fueled the actions, and it wasn’t necessarily that the offense itself was out of sorts, but mostly because he was upset with himself and disappointed he wasn’t contributing in the way he knows he can; and things were made worse by a red zone fumble that added to the list of things that cost the Cowboys the contest.
“I expect a lot out of myself — more than anyone could put on me,” he said. “And quite honestly, I failed myself, and obviously I failed the team, just as far as producing and being that game-breaker … I kind of let the game get to my head a little bit. Honestly I got to be truthful to myself and I played a part in that loss, a big part, honestly, and [neither] my body language nor attitude, [helped change] the outcome of the game.”
It’s not entirely similar to what occurred in 2023 when Lamb was criticized for being away from the team on the sideline during the back end of the loss, but the fuel was exactly the same: self-demand for greatness and angst when it is happening in the moment.
Lamb went on to have a record-setting season thereafter, one that also helped Dak Prescott land an All-Pro nod and runner-up in the NFL MVP race, and both are unscathed from the encounter on Sunday, their personal relationship having a foundation able to withstand earthquakes such as the one experienced against the Ravens.
Jerry Jones: ‘Very fair’ to blame me for Cowboys’ 1-2 start – Todd Archer, ESPN
Owner Jerry Jones addresses a poll from fans that points the blame on him for their 1-2 start.
According to a poll from WFAA-TV in Dallas, the answer is pretty clear among more than 70% of the voters: owner and general manager Jerry Jones.
“That’s very fair,” Jones said Tuesday on the “Shan and RJ” show on 105.3 The Fan. “It’s well known that no decision is ultimately made here for what I either have acquiesced [to] or approved it. That’s very fair. How could you think otherwise, whether it be who’s out there coaching, whether it be who’s out there playing, whether it be the stadium you’re walking into? Whatever it is here, that’s the way it is.
“Now, let me just say this. Do I have a huge amount of input in making those decisions? When they’ve done their homework, they’re very influential input to me, and we’ve got a lot of people in the Dallas Cowboys that have done their input.”
Jones has taken the brunt of the criticism when things have gone poorly for the Cowboys since becoming the owner and general manager in 1989. Since the playoff loss to the Green Bay Packers in January, fan frustration has been high, with the Super Bowl drought now at 28 seasons. In the Cowboys’ first two home games, against the New Orleans Saints and Baltimore Ravens, the fans of those teams came in large numbers and drowned out Cowboys fans.
“I guess I got baptized when I first came to Dallas and bought the Cowboys and we won one football game,” Jones said on The Fan. “We had made changes, changed out the only coach for 29 years [Tom Landry], and we got huge criticism and the kind that would make what you’re seeing now child’s play. … You’re dealing with anything but a lot of emotion about our team. It never ceases to surprise me both from the state of Texas in the case of the Cowboys or all over this country in the case of the Cowboys and it’s either there because they want to see us get our you-know-what kicked or it’s there because they’re following us. The thing that inspires me the most is the emotion about it, but it certainly, I’m aware of it, aware of criticism, but not any more aware than that score at the end of the game. Let’s put it like that.
Giants embracing chance to make Cowboys statement in lopsided rivalry: ‘New day’ – Ryan Dunleavy, New York Post
From an opponent’s point of view, the New York Giants are trying to shake the history that’s plagued them since 2017 against Dallas.
Behind one of these three doors, you will find a victory Thursday against the Cowboys that doubles the momentum gained Sunday by defeating the Browns, evens your record at 2-2, rejuvenates your starving fans, halts talk of a lopsided rivalry and charts a path to a respectable season.
Be careful, though.
Behind a different door you will find a dose of humiliation similar to that ingested during last season’s 40-0 prime-time home loss against the Cowboys and only validates skeptics’ belief that the complementary combination of four 20-plus-yard gains, eight sacks and smart coaching used to beat the Browns was an aberration.
And, of course, behind the final door is the ho-hum possibility of a non-win, non-blowout loss that suggests another long (but potentially not disastrous) season lies ahead.
“To play meaningful football in December, you have to win the division games,” left tackle Andrew Thomas said. “You try not to look too far forward or too far behind in the past. We get a win, then things look different.”
So, which of these three doors is it going to be?
Can the suddenly upstart Giants really clean the slate by beating the spiraling Cowboys for the just second time in the last 15 meetings?
“It’s a new day,” safety Jason Pinnock said. “With that, my analogy goes toward my big brother: We joke about this all the time. Yeah, he probably beat on me for 12 years, but that 13th I’m going to bust your a–.”
Just eight days ago, the Giants widely were left for dead after opening the season with back-to-back losses in tight-spread games against the Vikings — who knew after Week 1 that they would be 3-0 with wins against the high-expectation 49ers and Texans? — and Commanders.
NFL quarterback heat check: Sizing up Fields, Darnold, Dalton – Ben Solak, ESPN
Mike McCarthy needs to shake up the passing offense according to these stats.
35.3%: Per NFL Next Gen Stats, 35.3% of Dak Prescott’s throws went into a tight window against the Ravens, the highest number in a game for Prescott in the past six years.
Turn on the film from Dallas’ past two embarrassing losses, and the problem is clear — the Cowboys don’t have anyone who can get open. The league-average amount of separation for wide receivers and tight ends, as tracked by NGS, is 3.2 yards. Cowboys wide receivers Jalen Tolbert, Brandin Cooks and CeeDee Lamb all come in below that number, as does tight end Jake Ferguson.
Let’s get even more worried: Lamb’s average separation of 2.7 yards is the 11th-worst figure in the NFL (looking at wideouts and tight ends who have run at least 50 routes), and Cooks is one of the 10 guys who’s worse. In a weird way, I think Lamb’s lack of separation is a symptom of the larger problem — the lack of separation from the other guys. Opposing defenses are playing man coverage against the Cowboys at a pretty serious click (54.5%, third-highest in the league) because they can stick Tolbert, Cooks and Ferguson one-on-one. Lamb has lined up outside 75% of the time this season, the highest single-season mark of his career. So if you have an outside corner you trust to use the sideline and bully Lamb physically, you can blanket the Cowboys’ passing attack pretty easily.
Of course, the Cowboys have played two of the better man-coverage defenses in the NFL through two weeks (Saints and Browns), so maybe this will get easier. Then again, Dallas was forced into 35.3% tight-window throws against the Ravens, who previously held the Chiefs and Raiders to 7% and 16%, respectively. Stop me if you’ve heard this one before, but a Mike McCarthy passing playbook might be growing stale.
