Lamb's Torrid Career Start Has NFL's Head Spinning
The Dallas Cowboys torched the Atlanta Falcons last Sunday in AT&T Stadium. CeeDee Lamb initially and immediately sparked the fire that ultimately spread into a record-setting, 43-alarm blaze.
Desperate to douse the nightmarish performance from a week earlier, the Cowboys needed a quick start. Cue Lamb, who on the second play took a quick pass from Dak Prescott in the slot and sprinted 37 yards down the sideline.
Six plays later he caught a 13-yard pass for a 7-0 lead. Just before halftime, he hauled in a 9-yard toe-dragger to push the margin to 28-3.
With Michael Gallup back from a seven-game calf injury, offensive coordinator Kellen Moore exploited the luxury of moving Lamb into the slot. The Falcons' attempted to single-cover the speedy second-year receiver, with disastrous results.
Lamb finished with six catches, 94 yards, two touchdowns and one giant jump-start that commenced one of the biggest blowout victories in the Cowboys' 62-season history.
While Lamb befuddled the Falcons' secondary, he also sent the NFL's social media team into a tizzy.
The league's media machine went to work in the wake of Dallas' 43-3 win, attempting to capsulize just how impressive Lamb has been - not just against Atlanta, but early in his career.
Result: It boasted Lamb as being the first Cowboys' receiver to amass 1,500+ yards and 10+ touchdowns in his first 25 games in the NFL.
Wow!
But, um, wrong.
Amari Cooper had more catches, yards and touchdowns than Lamb in his first 25 games as a Cowboy. But if the league is pin-pointing the receiver's first 25 games in the NFL, we'll obviously cut it some slack as Cooper played his first 52 in Oakland as a Raider.
Alas, the NFL should probably Google a guy named Bob Hayes. In his first 25 NFL games - all as a Cowboy - he revolutionized the wide receiver position by producing a whopping 2,092 yards and 24 touchdowns, both easily topping Lamb's output.
The best 25-game starts by receivers in a Cowboys uniform:
PLAYER C YDS TD
Bob Hayes 100 2,092 24
Amari Cooper 132 1,914 14
CeeDee Lamb 121 1,661 12
Dez Bryant 96 1,357 15
Drew Pearson 72 1,255 3
Michael Irvin 66 1,203 8
Jason Witten 92 997 6
Tony Hill 34 584 5
This is not to knock Lamb's speedy ascension as one of the NFL's elite weapons. He's Top 10 this season in 20+-yard catches (13), receiving yards (726) and touchdowns (6).
He's not afraid to go over the middle. You can hand him the ball as a running back. He's dangerous as a punt-returner. Of his first 25 games, he's had Prescott at quarterback for barely half of them (13). And he plays in a talented receiving trio that features Gallup and Cooper, whose first 25 games in Dallas take a back seat to only Hayes.
Lamb's career is off to an impressive start. Just not quite as fast, however, as the NFL would have us believe.
