With just 143 yards in their season opener, it feels like the Cowboys’ passing game is still waiting to make its true 2023 debut.
But patience is a virtue, especially for an NFL wide receiver. And it’s one CeeDee Lamb- and the whole Dallas offense- is exercising as they come off a 40-0 blowout that, oddly, provided zero passing touchdowns and practically no aerial highlights at all.
“Best thing you can do,” Lamb told reporters this week, “don’t rush it and let it come to you.”
The two-time Pro Bowler caught all four balls thrown to him against the Giants and racked up 77 yards. While that per-game pace would put him awfully close to the career-best 1,359 he posted last season, Lamb has his sights set on improving.
This week’s date with the Jets is guaranteed to be drier and likely to be a lot closer on the scoreboard, so it should provide Lamb with far more opportunities than he got at soggy MetLife Stadium.
But the former first-round pick knows he’ll be seeing top-notch coverage from Sauce Gardner.
Lamb welcomes the challenge.
“Always a testament to your position,” Lamb explained. “Obviously, Sauce had a lot of success last year, and he’s a great DB. And [fellow Jets cornerback] D.J. Reed, I played him in college, so I’m very familiar with him. I look forward to games like that, matchups like that.”
That’s not even including Jets safety Jordan Whitehead, who picked off Bills passer Josh Allen three times in New York’s thrilling Week 1 win.
But Lamb is likely to be shadowed by Gardner, the fourth overall pick in last year’s draft. The All-Pro and reigning NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year ended the 2022 season with just two interceptions, a number that’s mostly a product of opposing passers shying away from testing the 6-foot-3-inch cornerback.
When they did go after him, Gardner was terrifically effective. Opposing quarterbacks completed just 48% of their passes against him, and he led the NFL with 20 passes defended. He also had the highest PFF grade of any cornerback in the league.
“For starters, his height,” Lamb answered upon being asked what makes Gardner so good. “His technique, he knows his leverage. He’s very smart, tall. He’s not your average DB.”
Lamb is confident, though, that Cowboys offensive playcaller Mike McCarthy, coordinator Brian Schottenheimer, and quarterback Dak Prescott are capable of dialing up a better-than-average game plan that attacks the Jets secondary, with an air raid that looks- on paper, at least- to be incredibly explosive.
“Any given time, any given Sunday, honestly,” Lamb warned. “Just being out there with the guys and making the routine plays, things that we’ve been practicing and preaching since camp, to see it come to fruition, that’s probably the best feeling. And I think that’s what we’re looking forward to.”
Lamb says the work he’s been getting in every day against Cowboys cornerbacks Stephon Gilmore and Trevon Diggs is the perfect training ground for facing a talent like Gardner.
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The Oklahoma product says he gets a different lesson with each practice rep, depending on who’s guarding him.
“He’s probably the smartest DB,” Lamb said of the 13-year veteran Gilmore, “that I’ve ever lined up against. I get one yard down the field off a release, he knows– He’s kind of eliminating routes in his head. I mean, if you beat him, you got him. But I don’t know if you could do it twice.”
As for Diggs, Lamb offered, “He has the best ball skills out of all the DBs. So if the ball’s in the air, it makes me track it differently. And then looking eye-to-eye when I line up to a guy that’s my height- technically- it kind of makes you want to get in your bag a little more. … It’s great work in practice.”
And after all that practice- not to mention a season-opener that kept the Cowboys passing attack stuck safely in first gear- Lamb is more than ready to show Gardner what he’s been learning. And saving up.
“Test my abilities,” Lamb previewed, “and see where I am and make a statement.”
The Cowboys hope that statement ultimately sounds a lot like a second straight win over a New York foe.
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