Why Dallas Cowboys’ CeeDee Lamb must be held accountable when high expectations aren’t met

While the three-point loss that the Dallas Cowboys suffered on Sunday afternoon to the Baltimore Ravens didn’t feel as nail-biting as the final 28-25 scoreboard indicated, individual mistakes are amplified when they’re given in context to the final conclusion. And there were many individual mistakes that could have swung the result to the other sideline.

You could look at a missed tackle by rookie Caelen Carson that turned into a 56-yard gain by Nelson Agholor down the right sideline, gifting Baltimore a Derrick Henry goal-line touchdown run in the first quarter. Or a fourth down decision by head coach Mike McCarthy in the third quarter to punt instead of allowing All-Pro kicker Brandon Aubrey attempt a 60-plus yard field goal, a kick that he had already nailed earlier. You could go on. And on.

But in all, there was only one Cowboys turnover in Sunday’s contest: a second-quarter fumble by receiver CeeDee Lamb that erased a red zone opportunity for his offense. If the Cowboys only came away with an Aubrey field goal on that drive, it could have helped push Dallas back into the win column even with the array of other individual mistakes on both sides of the ball.

The moments that followed for Lamb amplified that individual mishap. Poor body language off the field and even in-play on the field took him out of rhythm for the rest of the game. He was seen on the sideline moments later having a spirited conversation with quarterback Dak Prescott and lineman Zack Martin. The two teammates walked away from the visibly distressed star receiver.

In the second half when Prescott and his offense speared together a furious late comeback attempt, Lamb was nowhere to be found. Instead, it was big plays from Jake Ferguson, Jalen Tolbert and KaVontae Turpin that helped cut a 19-point deficit to just three points. In the entirety of the second half, Lamb and his visibly decreased spirit put together just one reception for nine yards.

“Especially in a game like today, the most important thing is to look straight in the mirror,” head coach Mike McCarthy said after the loss. “We put a lot into this game. We put a lot into it every week. Sometimes your preparation is really good and you don’t play as well as you would like, and there’s times when your preparation is not very good and you play better than you thought. I think clearly this week our preparation was pretty much in line with the way we played.”

If there is any looking in the mirror after that effort, it has to start with Lamb.

We saw it last season when he isolated himself on the visiting sideline in a 42-10 loss in San Francisco that led to an in-house meeting with Lamb, Prescott and other offensive bigwigs. What followed was a multi-game stretch that led to Lamb putting together a franchise record-setting season.

The difference between that moment in San Francisco and this moment in Arlington was that Lamb was available after the 49ers game to voice his frustrations. He took accountability and he also challenged teammates. This time, he was nowhere to be found when the media walked into the locker room.

“If you’re sitting in that, dwelling on that, your mind’s not in the right place to move forward,” Prescott said about his message to Lamb during the game. “It’s about always talking, not only him, but the other guys [too]. You don’t have time to dwell. You look at the way that game ended, I feel like if we don’t dwell in different places on offense, it’s a different game.”

And a different game it could have been. While Lamb is not deserving of any bashing or writing off for his display of emotions on Sunday, he is deserving of an accountability check. For we all know – as we saw in 2023 – this offense moves when Lamb moves. With a four-year, $136 million extension now attached to his name, the expectation becomes that much higher. To not be there to answer the questions of not meeting those expectations is not representative of the Lamb we saw last season when he took that accountability in San Francisco.

“Us as players, we’ve got to be more professional and understand our jobs,” Prescott said. “Understand where we’re supposed to be and do that time and time again and keep our focus.”

If that message is heard, then Lamb will have an opportunity to bounce back in just four days when the Cowboys return to the field to take on the New York Giants at MetLife Stadium. If it’s not heard, offensive problems that are already mounting outside of Lamb will only become more dire before the season can even truly get started.