Cowboys’ Dak Prescott, CeeDee Lamb look to recreate ‘rare feeling’ vs. Lions, fix WR’s second-half output

FRISCO, Texas — If you played sports growing up, at any level at all, how vividly can you remember your best game you ever played?

For Dallas Cowboys 2023 First Team All-Pro wide receiver CeeDee Lamb, that’s pretty easy. It’s his 13-catch, 227-yard explosion against the Detroit Lions in Week 17 last season. Both metrics are career highs, and that output includes a 92-yard touchdown quarterback Dak Prescott threw Lamb scrambling out of the end zone, a play that is Lamb’s longest touchdown of his career and the longest receiving touchdown of the 2023 season. He’ll have a chance to attempt to come close to replicating that output in Week 6 back in AT&T Stadium against the Lions on Sunday. 

“How electric the crowd was,” Lamb said Thursday when asked what he remembers from that night. “Obviously it was a night game and everything prior [Jimmy Johnson’s Ring of Honor night] too. The 92-yard touchdown, of course, that was a very memorable moment for me. Longest touchdown of my career, obviously. Just kind of executing any way that I could. I had obviously a great matchup, one on one. That was kind of before the cloud existed. I’m looking forward to it man. I know they got a nice DB over there now in Carlton [Davis]. Saw him in Tampa, so looking forward to the matchup.”

“Yeah, it felt good,” Prescott said Thursday thinking back to Lamb’s big day. “Been a long time since, would like to get back in a groove. I like that with him. What a great opportunity we have to try to get that connection going once again. It’s a defense that we’re familiar with having played the last few seasons. Understand how they’re going to try to play us. They’re going to for sure try to take him away. Especially when you look back at that game, you see the numbers that he was able to produce. Got different ways to get him the ball still and just confident in what he’ll be able to do. It would be great to get in a rhythm like that again. When you’re in a rhythm like that with an elite receiver, it’s a rare feeling.”

Lamb caught eight of his 10 targets in man coverage that night for 188 yards and a touchdown, the most such yards by a receiver in man coverage since 2018, per NFL Pro Insights. Much of his output came against cornerbacks Kindle Vildor and Cameron Sutton: Lamb caught all eight of his targets in man coverage against either of those two for 180 yards and a touchdown. However, Sutton is now on the Pittsburgh Steelers, and Vildor has been relegated to special teams in Detroit in 2024 with only eight coverage snaps in 2024. 

Lions general manager Brad Holmes traded a third-round pick to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in exchange for 27-year-old cornerback Carlton Davis, a starter on the Bucs’ Super Bowl LV championship team in the 2020 season. He’s the new CB1, and the Lions used their first two draft picks in 2024: they used their first-round selection on Alabama All-America Carlton Davis and their second-round selection on Ennis Rakestraw out of Missouri. Through five games, Davis’ 81.3 passer rating against as the primary defender in coverage ranks 34th out of 48 players this season with at least 25 passes thrown their way. 

“Well they’ve had some changes in their secondary, stating the obvious. That game has been in the cut ups. Had a chance to review it Monday night. I think the biggest thing with CeeDee is his opportunities,” McCarthy said Thursday. “We just got to keep finding ways to make sure he gets opportunities. That’s a great example of what he can do with the football. The play him and Dak had, that broken play, backed up situation was a huge play in that game.”

This season, Lamb’s opportunities have come in bunches in the first half and then dried up like a desert in the second half of games. His 21 catches in the first two quarters of games this season are the second-most in the NFL behind only Buccaneers receiver Chris Godwin’s 24 while his 353 first-half receiving yards are the most in the league. Problem is Lamb’s production has fallen off a cliff in the second half of games this season with only four catches for 25 yards combined across five games. He attempted to explain the dramatic split by clarifying how different the coverages he has received this season. 

“We pop off early on and then obviously nobody wants to see that for the second half of the game,” Lamb said. “So they [opposing defenses] do a great job of making halftime adjustments, bringing two [defenders]. Nine times out 10 I’m getting cloud [coverage], and kudos to them, you know what I’m saying. They’re doing a great job of stopping the bleeding, but we still win. So, it’s cool.”

“They’re not going to let you beat them with your fastball early and late, they’re going to make you change it up,” Prescott said.

CeeDee Lamb by half this season

After leading the NFL with 135 catches in 2023, he isn’t sneaking up on anybody, but he’s eyeing a breakout any game now. 

“Yeah, a lot more,” Lamb said. “They [defenses] started early too. They weren’t playing, but it’s cool though. I got to find different ways of being effective in the game, and I understand that. I will, and when my time comes, best believe it’s going to be big.”

Playing Detroit’s defense could be exactly what the doctor ordered for Lamb. As stated above, eight of his 13 catches and 188 of his 227 receiving yards against Detroit last season came in man coverage. Lions defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn has his unit running man coverage on 35.5% of their defensive snaps this season, the fifth-highest rate in the NFL in 2024. That could have Lamb primed to erupt once again.

Last week, a different Dallas wide receiver Jalen Tolbert, a 2022 third-round pick out of South Alabama, played hero with a career-high seven catches for a career-high 87 yards, including a career-long 48-yard catch as well as the game-winning touchdown catch on fourth-and-goal from the four in the Cowboys’ 20-17 road win over the Pittsburgh Steelers in Week 5. One of the happiest players about Tolbert’s breakout was none other than Lamb. 

“Yeah, for sure,” Lamb said when asked about how much his fellow receivers can help him out like Tolbert did in Week 5. “Him [Tolbert], JB [Jalen Brooks] got to do some things. Obviously [Pro Bowl return man KaVontae] Turp[in]. All those guys. I can’t express it enough. I told them how happy I was for JT in particular and then for the guys just making these big plays. JB on a third down. Turp down the middle. If you will, take the eyes off me, you know what I’m saying? Show your worth. I have an unbelievable faith in those guys, and I know they can get open and create separation as well.”

Not being completely in sync with Prescott in the second half games can be somewhat attributed to their time apart during Lamb’s holdout this offseason that caused him to miss the Cowboys’ entire offseason program before owner and general manager Jerry Jones re-signed him to a four-year, $136 million deal. Their connection isn’t on par with their 2023 telekinesis just yet, but with all the reps being back together, especially in-season, Lamb feels another run of dominance running and facing the Lions at home once again. Everything required for the All-Pro duo to recapture their 2023 magic is present on Sunday. All Prescott and Lamb have to do is seize the moment. 

“Greatness always come with repetition,” Lamb said. “I’m a firm believer in that and where we want to be, obviously we’re far from great. We have a long season. I remember last year we had a lot of questions around this time and then post-bye week, all those questions were answered. Obviously, I’m hoping that changes. Yeah, bro I have no doubt.”