Cowboys overreactions, reality checks after Week 10: CeeDee Lamb for OPOY? Will Dallas stay perfect at home?

ARLINGTON, Texas — The Dallas Cowboys‘ return home to AT&T Stadium was exactly what they needed to win their second game this season against the New York Giants in dominant fashion, 49-17, which extended the NFL’s longest active home winning streak to 12 games as well as quarterback Dak Prescott’s consecutive starts won streak against the Giants to 12 games.

Here is a look at some of the now 6-3 Cowboys‘ biggest storylines from a wire-to-wire victory at AT&T Stadium on Sunday, as well as our verdict on whether they’re overreactions or reality. 

CeeDee Lamb can be the 2023 NFL Offensive Player of the Year

Overreaction or reality: Reality

Lamb has over 100 receiving yards in each of his last four games, including setting and resetting his career high in receiving yards in two of the last three weeks. He totaled 117 yards on seven catches in a 20-17 Week 6 win at the Los Angeles Chargers, 158 receiving yards and two receiving touchdowns on 12 catches against the Los Angeles Rams in a 43-20 Week 8 win, 191 receiving yards on 11 catches at the Philadelphia Eagles in a 28-23 Week 9 defeat and 151 receiving yards and a receiving touchdown on 11 catches as well as a 14-yard wide receiver reverse rushing touchdown in the Cowboys’ 49-17 Week 10 home win against the New York Giants in Week 10. His three-game stretch with 10 or more catches and 150 or more receiving yards makes him the only player with those numbers in three games in a row. His 617 receiving yards since Week 6 are the most in the NFL, 127 more than the next closest player — Detroit Lions wide receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown (490 receiving yards) — and they are the most in a four-game span by any player in Cowboys history. 

“Absolutely,” Lamb said postgame Sunday when asked if he is currently in the zone. “I’m one of one. I’m the top receiver in this game, and there’s no question about it. Competitors, see y’all again next week.”

CeeDee Lamb since Week 6, NFL ranking

* Played only four of a possible five games in span because of Week 7 bye
** Most in a four-game span in Cowboys history

His quarterback, Dak Prescott, refused to refer to Lamb’s current heater as a streak. Prescott himself also rewrote some records on Sunday.

“I don’t even want to call it a streak because that’s who he is,” Prescott said postgame on Sunday. “It’s just what he’s beginning to do week in and week out…. I  can tell you I’ve never been as confident or as free. [Or] as connected with other guys in the offense, play-calling and just this whole system and what we’re trying to get after as I am now. That’s credit to those guys. That’s credit to coach [Mike] McCarthy, [offensive coordinator Brian] Schottenheimer, [quarterback coach Scott] Tolzien and the rest of the offensive staff of just being able to communicate exactly what we’re trying to get. It feels good. Honestly, it does. Great chemistry. We’re just going to continue to build.”

If Lamb plays like Prescott says he will continue to play and just be this level of player every week, the wide receiver could very easily end up winning 2023 NFL Offensive Player of the Year honors.   

The Cowboys are going undefeated at home 

Overreaction or reality: Overreaction

Within the friendly confines of AT&T Stadium, Dallas has been downright dominant. The Cowboys own the longest active home winning streak in the NFL with 12 straight wins, and they have won all four of their home games in 2023 by a combined score of 160-50. The Cowboys have defeated each of their home opponents by 20 or more points, making them only the sixth team in NFL history to win each of their first four at home by 20 or more. The company they are in for that bit of history includes the 1920 Buffalo All-Americans (no longer an NFL team), the 1949 Philadelphia Eagles, 1991 Washington, the 2006 Chicago Bears and the 2007 Pittsburgh Steelers. The Eagles and Washington won NFL championships in their respective seasons while the 2006 Bears were NFC champions. 

Cowboys by location this season

*Top five in NFL

The 12 consecutive home game victories is Dallas’ second-longest streak in team history, trailing only a stretch of 18 consecutive home wins from 1979-81 under Pro Football Hall of Fame head coach Tom Landry.

That begs the question: Will the Cowboys go undefeated at home this season? Dallas has four home games remaining in 2023: Week 12 vs. the 4-6 Washington Commanders, Week 13 vs. the 6-3 Seattle Seahawks, Week 14 vs. the 8-1 Philadelphia Eagles and Week 17 vs. the 7-2 Detroit Lions. The Eagles, Lions and Seahawks have three of the top records in the NFC standings right now. Given those three teams are the Cowboys’ last three home foes, it’s unlikely they can run the table at AT&T Stadium in 2023. It is possible. Sure. Likely? Probably not.   

Dak Prescott is in the NFL MVP conversation 

Overreaction or reality: Reality

Prescott rewrote some records on Sunday, becoming the first Cowboy with 300 or more passing yards (404) and three touchdowns (four) in three consecutive games. He also became the first Cowboy with 400 or more passing yards (404), four or more passing touchdowns (four) and one rushing touchdown (one) in a single game. Prescott did all of that in three quarters of work by the way. His prolific production in tandem with Lamb across the last five weeks has launched his 2023 season totals into the realms of top-five quarterback play by league-wide standards, a distinction that chews up hours worth of debates on sports talk shows and social media alike.

Dak Prescott stats this season

Prescott has a chance to make a strong impression on MVP voters with four games in a row against contenders from both conferences from Weeks 13-17 when the Cowboys face the Seahawks,  Eagles, Bills, Dolphins and Lions. He will also have three more games against teams with losing records, next week at the 1-8 Panthers in Week 11 and two matchups with the 4-6 Commanders in Week 12 and 18. If Prescott performs well enough against the contenders while dominating the Panthers and Commanders, he’ll be in the mix for MVP at the season’s end. 

Overreaction or reality: Overreaction 

The Cowboys trading for Brandin Cooks this past offseason was supposed to atone for their horrendous sin of trading away four-time Pro Bowl wide receiver Amar Cooper to the Cleveland Browns in exchange for late-round draft pick compensation. Entering Week 10, he had only 17 catches for 165 yards and two receiving touchdowns on 29 targets. Against the Giants in Week 10, Cooks, a 10-year NFL veteran who has six 1,000-yard seasons in nine full seasons played, totaled single-game, season-highs across the board on Sunday with 173 receiving yards and a touchdown on nine catches. Of that final tally, 104 of his yards, his 10-yard touchdown and seven of those catches occurred in the first half. 

“You know, I think at the end of the day, it just means really continuing like I always tell the other guys and trusting the process,” Cooks said postgame on Sunday. “When your number is called, being able to take advantage of the opportunities because when the ball comes your way, it’s going to come and when it does go out there and make a play.”

Prescott said he knew Cooks would be a factor early in practice this week. 

“Practice,” Prescott said when he was asked when he knew that Cooks would have a big game this week. “I always talk about practice and what we put into it. Going back to this game plan early in the week, I told him, ‘Let’s put in the work in and it’s going to come out.’ He’s been there for us all year when we needed him to. There’s been games that we’ve come back and said, “Could you get him more involved?” He’s the type of player that deserves those questions when he’s not getting those targets or getting those catches and then through the little communication that we’ve have throughout this week. He had a great week of practice. Some plays build momentum to go for him and the others, he went and won when they would double CeeDee. He went and beat his man and made it easy for me to throw to him.”  

Given Sunday was Cooks’ first game with over 50 receiving yards this season, his breakout is still in wait-and-see mode.