Cowboys’ CeeDee Lamb Fires Back at ‘Upsetting’ Dak Prescott Critics

Getty CeeDee Lamb (left) and Dak Prescott of the Dallas Cowboys

On one hand, NFL quarterbacks are paid significantly more money these days than players at virtually any other position on the field. On the other hand, they get raked over the coals for the ups and downs of a team far more than anyone else.

And when you’re Dak Prescott, playing quarterback for the Cowboys, it’s both—good money, sure, but much, much more scrutiny. His star receiver, CeeDee Lamb doesn’t know how he handles it.

“Just some of the stuff that he deals with—I’ve said it plenty of times,” Lamb said while meeting with reporters Tuesday. “He deals with so much criticism, it’s insane. Like, he have a bad game, he’s, oh my God, all kinds of names. It’s upsetting. I get it. That, I am not just saying it because he is my teammate but just as a person, he has to put his phone down. He has to lock his phone at some point. Nobody wants to see that all day.”

Prescott has not been seeing it much lately. He has been—and this would be hard to argue—the best quarterback in the NFL this season and potentially the league MVP. He has thrown for 2,604 yards with a completion rate of 70.1, a career high. After throwing a league-high 15 interceptions this year, he has thrown six this season, an interception rate of just 1.8%.

Pro Football Focus has him with a grade of 89.4, tops among all quarterbacks.

CeeDee Lamb ‘Clicking’ With Dak Prescott Right Now

Yet CeeDee Lamb knows that there are few bigger targets out there for talk-radio scorn and social media pillories than Dak Prescott, one of the offshoots that comes with being a star player on a team that has not been to the Super Bowl since 1995.

It does not help that Prescott’s career postseason record is just 2-4.

But things have been different for Prescott, at least thus far this season. He’s shown a different level of toughness and grit here in 2023. When Lamb was asked for his Dak Prescott impressions this year, Lamb turned the question around. Told Prescott looked “pretty good” this year, Lamb smiled.

“I agree. I agree with that statement. I definitely agree with that statement,” he said. “Just trusting in our ability, believing in each other and staying on the same page. I feel like with that, that is unbeatable. Just staying on the same timing, always believing in each other, that I am going to win my matchup and he is going to see me. Clicking right now.”

‘He’s a Hell of a Person’

But it is clear, too, that Lamb has gained an appreciation for all that this quarterback deals with on a day-in, day-out basis. It’s good to be Dak Prescott now, Lamb says, but he knows that one bad game will bring the critics back to the Dak Prescott feasting table.

“I am sure he don’t take it lightly,” Lamb said. “It shows his mental toughness and obviously a lot that he has been dealing with throughout his life. That’s part of it. I can relate to him.

“He’s a hell of a person. He is willing to give a helping hand when you need it. It’s the small things. I wish I could go really into detail but I can’t. I am proud of him and proud of the things he has overcome. All four years, it has been a different situation every year. Obviously, along with the criticism, along with all the extra-curricular. So, I tip my hat off to him.”