FRISCO, Texas – The Cowboys' offense was held in check in Monday's loss to the Houston Texans, marking the third straight home game where Dallas has failed to score more than 10 points. It's a difficult spot to be in, and CeeDee Lamb and the offense don't have a lot of answers.
"We don't really have it figured out right now, and that sucks." Lamb said.
Lamb caught eight of his 12 targets for 93 yards to lead the Cowboys in receiving on Monday night and tied Michael Thomas for the most consecutive games with at least four catches in NFL history (43). While that's a noteworthy accomplishment, it's impact has been minimized by Dallas' inability to convert in the end zone.
"We were moving the ball up and down the field, but I feel like it's been our thing all season of getting in the red zone and not scoring," Lamb said. "Obviously, good teams do it, and we have been failing to do that, and it differentiates the score a lot."
The Cowboys have trailed by 20 or more points in their last six homes games dating back to their loss to Green Bay in the playoffs at the end of last season, an NFL record. With that, Lamb knows his team needs to play better together in order to avoid more big losses, much less on their home turf.
"Obviously, everybody is looking to embarrass us, they have their opportunity, when they do, they try to put us out, Lamb said. "We had so much success over the last three years as far as in the regular season… for us, we've got to find ways to gel together, play together and finish this thing out."
In the first half, the Cowboys defense gave up 17 points but strung together a turnover and gave the offense opportunities to tie the game going into the half and getting possession to start the third quarter. They came up short, and Lamb takes to heart that the offense's shortcomings a reason for these big losses.
"I feel like the defense in the first half played lights out," Lamb said. "And quite honestly, I take it real personal for us to be the reason that we're really losing in these blowout games because when you look at it, granted they're giving up a lot of points, but bro, we're scoring nine points a game, and everybody should take accountability in that, myself included."
On Saturday, Lamb popped up on the injury report with a back injury and suffered a shoulder injury a few weeks prior against the Falcons, and it seems like some of that pain is still lingering. That said, Lamb isn't going to let that show on the field and is still committed to giving this offense everything he physically can.
"Throughout the week, everybody knows, everybody on my team knows, I'm going through situations as far as with my body," Lamb said. "But does that stop me from going out there and playing my heart out for these guys? No, absolutely not. With that, I take pride in what I do, I take pride in my game, and I take pride in playing for the fans."
This is Dallas' worst season that Lamb has played in since his rookie season when the Cowboys finished with a 6-10 record, and the lessons he learned from that season are carrying over. Even with that, it doesn't make the struggles any easier to deal with, but instead provides more opportunity to learn.
"I know the world doesn't end this year, unfortunately it didn't happen the way that we wanted it to, we got to learn from these things…" Lamb said. "You can't really take all these steps back and expect to win."
