With Dallas’ fate riding on this fourth down, Dak Prescott turned to his star receiver Cee Dee Lamb on Thursday night and lofted a ball toward him down the left sideline.
Lamb had to dive in an attempt to corral the pass, yet the ball hit both his hands before bouncing to the turf to end what would be Dallas’ final possession in their 24-20 road loss to the Eagles.
As the Eagles fans roared, Lamb sat on the field and held his hands to his head after his costliest missed opportunity during a nightmare opener filled with several drops.
“I’m definitely gonna look at this film and dread every drop, that’s for sure,” Lamb said.
Despite leading all pass-catchers with seven catches for 110 yards, Lamb’s night will be remembered for his inability to corral that ball.
There are varying records of how many passes Lamb officially dropped — ESPN lists three, NFL.com states two, but a third could be argued, and Pro Football Talk has four — but they all paint the story of one of the NFL’s top-paid receivers failing to rise to the occasion.
“Man, that’s terrible,” Lamb said. “Honestly, I can’t point no fingers at nobody else. I take full accountability and everything that’s gonna come with it. Because for me, as a player, I pray for moments like that and the ball to come my way, and, obviously, for me to not come up with it, it stings a little bit. But I will tell you, if you think I’m not coming back any times harder than this, you’ve got another thing coming.”
The Cowboys are going to have to rely on their offense to win games this year with their defense reeling after losing Micah Parsons, and that will require Lamb to be a star more often than not.
He certainly helped Dallas be competitive Thursday night in a tough spot, but he also prevented his team from scoring extra points.
ESPN said his first drop came in the second quarter during the Cowboys’ third drive of the game, and it played a factor in the team settling for a field goal to take a 17-14 lead.
His fourth-quarter blunders stood out more.
On the first play of the fourth quarter with the Eagles leading by four, Lamb dropped a pass on third-and-10 while inside Philadelphia territory that stalled the drive.
Later in the quarter, with less than three minutes remaining, Lamb beat his defender for a potential 25-plus-yard catch, but he dropped a ball right in his mitts.
Former ESPN reporter Ed Werder said the fourth-down pass that Lamb could not grab technically was not a drop since it required extra effort, but most — if not all — star receivers usually say that if a pass hits their hands then it should be caught.
Had he caught that pass, Dallas would have had the ball at around the Philadelphia 25-yard line with roughly 1:50 remaining in the game.
“The ones down the stretch kind of hurt me a lot because I pray for those, I pray for those kind of things, but again, it’s Game 1. I’ll be back,” Lamb said. “I just hope everybody else be ready.”
While Lamb did not play in the preseason, he did not use that as an excuse for his performance.
“Nah, that ain’t got nothing to do with what’s going on right now,” Lamb said. “I need to catch the damn ball.”
Prescott praised Lamb for being accountable and owning up to his performance after the game, while Cowboys coach Brian Schottenheimer said he has no worries about his star.
Lamb will have a shot to rebound in Week 2 against the Giants at home.
“I don’t worry about CeeDee Lamb. CeeDee’s going to be fine, what a great player,” Schottenheimer said. “Again, this was a team defeat and we own that.”