Imagine for a moment that you’re back in the year 2000. You turn on the TV and see that Shaquille O’Neal and the Los Angeles Lakers are about to tip off in a game.
Shaq is in his prime and he looks every bit of it in the first quarter, putting up 20 points. It doesn’t appear as if anyone will be slowing him down tonight.
Now imagine that over the next two quarters he’s essentially invisible. He’s still the same dominant player, and he’s got his hand up in the post on every possession, but the Lakers have failed to get the ball to him since the first quarter. Now trailing, they begin to work the ball to Shaq once again in the fourth quarter, but it’s too little too late, and the Lakers lose the game.
It’s not a perfect analogy, but that’s basically what happened with CeeDee Lamb this past weekend against the Dolphins.
On the game’s first two possessions, Lamb appeared unstoppable, catching four passes for 93 yards and a 49-yard touchdown. It didn’t appear as if the Dolphins were going to be able to slow Lamb down in this game.
So why did Lamb not get a single target in the passing game until the fourth quarter, with the Cowboys trailing by six? Jerry Jones seemed just as puzzled by that question when speaking with 105.3 The Fan on Tuesday.
“I don’t know,” Jones said. “We all want to look back and say, ‘boy, we should have had the ball in Lamb’s hands in the second and third quarters.’ I don’t have an answer for that, I really don’t.”
Lamb was targeted or touched the ball on four drives in the game. On those four drives the Cowboys picked up 277 yards on 45 plays and scored 17 points. On the five drives where Lamb wasn’t involved, the team picked up just 66 yards on 18 plays, and came away with just a field goal.
Lamb appeared visibly frustrated at times during the game. The last time Lamb was outwardly frustrated with his involvement was the 42-10 loss to the 49ers in Week 5. That led to a string of four consecutive games where Lamb averaged 10 catches and over 150 yards receiving per game.
Cowboys fans are crossing their fingers and hoping that Sunday’s game was another wake-up call for the offense to prioritize Lamb once more.
