Getty Dallas Cowboys receiver CeeDee Lamb is frustrated with the offense.
Owner Jerry Jones is creating plenty of Dallas Cowboys news with his complicated response to CeeDee Lamb’s frustration through the first five weeks of the season. On one hand, Jones says that all of the Cowboys’ past star receivers wanted the ball more but does not have a message for quarterback Dak Prescott. On the other hand, Jones says he is not ready to commit to feeding the ball more to Lamb.
“I’m saying I don’t know about that [wanting to get Lamb more involved],” Jones said in an October 10, 2023, interview with 105.3 The Fan’s “Shan & RJ” after the Cowboys’ 42-10 loss to the San Francisco 49ers. “What I want to see us do is: I want to see the right combination of running. I want to see the right combination of throws. I like seeing that ball go to [KaVontae] Turpin on that [touchdown versus the 49ers]. I like seeing balls go to tight ends.
“My point to you is that it’s a question so much of how the game goes, but it is no surprise to me. One of the initial people that always got frustrated if he didn’t get enough balls was Michael Irvin, and so that’s what the top players do is they want balls coming their way.”
Dallas Cowboys News: CeeDee Lamb & Dak Prescott Had a Heart-to-Heart
Cowboys WR CeeDee Lamb on if Sunday night’s loss to the 49ers was the most frustrated he’s been since being with the Cowboys: “Absolutely. Obviously I had time to self reflect. I mean, I didn’t go the best route to get my end result. But at the end of the day, I do have a job to…
Through the first five weeks of the season, Lamb leads the Cowboys with 35 targets. It remains to be seen whether all of this talk about Lamb’s role in the offense will impact how many touches the receiver has moving forward. Lamb and Prescott both revealed that the two had a candid discussion about his frustration.
“I told him [Prescott] straight up, and he came up to me, he was like, ‘If you have a problem with anything, just come up to me and we’ll talk about it. I don’t care how it really necessarily looks to the media, right,'” Lamb told reporters on October 13 when reflecting on his conversation with Prescott.
“But the media is going to do what the media does anyway. If I stand by myself, it’s a problem. If I go talk to him and I flare my hands a little bit, it’s a problem, right? So, at the end of the day, [it’s] just getting down to the nitty-gritty, getting everything understood and both parties to be on the same page. And me and Dak, we did that [the] first day back, so we can have all week, [a] fresh slate, get active.”
Dak Prescott on CeeDee Lamb’s Frustration: ‘It’s About Him Leading Other Guys’
Which star WR needs a change of scenery? 🤔
@ByKimberleyA: Justin Jefferson
@danorlovsky7: CeeDee Lamb
Cowboys head coach Mike McCarthy gave a much more measured response than Jones when discussing Lamb’s reaction. McCarthy noted that he would be upset if Lamb was not frustrated by the current state of affairs with the team’s offense. Prescott discussed his assessment of Lamb’s demeanor following their conversation.
“CeeDee is a guy that I’ll never lose confidence in and trust who he is and understand, as I said, why he’s frustrated,” Prescott explained during an October 13 media session. “But at the end of the day, he’s a leader. It’s about him leading other guys and picking other guys up and him trying to make sure that we’re all pushing our best.
“And that’s where the frustration, we’ve got to remove that. And he will. He’s a young player that’s growing by the day and he’ll only get better. He’ll be better because of that. Frustrating times.”
Lamb was also candid about his desire to have handled things differently after the team’s blowout loss to the 49ers in Week 5. It will be worth watching to see how often Prescott looks Lamb’s way in the coming weeks.