'Silence of The Lamb'? How's Dallas McCarthy Explain Absence of 'Featured Component'?
Dallas Cowboys receiver CeeDee Lamb is having a career-best season as the No. 1 weapon for Dak Prescott in coach Mike McCarthy's "Texas Coast Offense."
He is indeed, to use the coach's words, a "featured component.''
Except, of course, when he's not.
Against the Miami Dolphins in what would be a 22-20 Christmas weekend loss, the Cowboys wanted to start fast, and they did thanks to Lamb, who on the game's first drive, caught a nine and 13-yard pass while also rushing for nine yards.
He was about to be in the groove.
On the second drive, Lamb would snatch a 22-yard completion before a 49-yard touchdown in which he weaved through the Miami secondary on his way to having 93 receiving yards in the first quarter.
But then something "weird" (Lamb's word) happened: He wasn't targeted throughout the entire second and third quarters before coming to life again in the fourth with gains of 14 and 11 as the Cowboys took the lead late.
"I went absent,'' Lamb said.
Why, McCarthy is being asked.
“You watch the game, the ebb and flow of the game, I thought the two backed-up series were not very good for us,” McCarthy said. “We didn't generate a first down on either one of those ...
"But CeeDee Lamb's the feature component of our pass game and anything other than that is, I mean those are the facts.”
But hang on there, Mike.
Dec 24, 2023; Miami Gardens, Florida, USA; Dallas Cowboys wide receiver CeeDee Lamb (88) reacts toward Miami Dolphins fans during the fourth quarter at Hard Rock Stadium.
Credit: Sam Navarro-USA TODAY Sports
If Lamb is the "feature component" of the Cowboys' pass game, then No. 88 should have seen targets on a more consistent basis. So to go a half of football without a single pass in his direction was certainly odd.
Now, was that due to Dolphins defensive coordinator Vic Fangio making some adjustments after Lamb's explosive start? That's been suggested, but we don't buy it. And here's why: That theory means the Dolphins "solved'' Lamb in the second and third quarters, right?
So what happened in the fourth, when Lamb re-appeared? Fangio dump his "solution'' for a defensive concept that didn't work? Nonsense.
When No. 88 is involved, as we saw in Miami, good things often happen, and while Lamb's six receptions for 118 yards and a touchdown make for good reading, 93 of those came in the first quarter.
“It was weird that second and third quarter, very weird," Lamb said.
Would more Lamb have changed the outcome of the game? Dallas is left pondering that one ... and maybe needing to fix an approach that turned its best and most productive offensive weapon into a bystander in a game the Cowboys lost by the smallest of margins.
