In less than two quarters CeeDee Lamb went from Antonio Bryant to Dez Bryant.
Lamb, one of a handful of Dallas Cowboys receivers to be handed the hallowed No. 88 jersey, played like the receiver the Cowboys need/expect him to be when they shoved Amari Cooper away to Cleveland in exchange for a Target gift card.
Took a while, but Lamb showed up.
Until the fourth quarter against the New York Giants on Monday night, Lamb’s first season as the Cowboys’ No. 1 receiver had not gone well.
With 19 catches for 219 yards and two touchdowns in three games, Cooper has been killing it in Cleveland.
Entering Monday night’s game, Lamb had nine catches for 104 yards and no touchdowns.
Then came the second quarter against the Giants.
Lamb dropped a wide open pass from quarterback Cooper Rush that would have been either a long touchdown catch, or close.
Lamb repeatedly tapped his chest after that drop; he wanted to let us know the play was on him. This was not some Agatha Christie level mystery. We knew it was on him.
There was not a player within 5 yards of Lamb. It was as bad of a drop as you will see an NFL receiver make.
At the time, it looked as if the next touchdown would win this field-goal fest; the Cowboys led at the half, 6-3.
The respective offenses eventually did actually score touchdowns, but the best of the night belonged to CeeDee as the Cowboys won, 23-16.
On the decisive drive, Lamb caught a 17-yard pass. He followed that with a 4-yard catch on a 4th-and-1 from the Giants’ 41-yard line.
Two plays later, Lamb caught a 26-yard pass.
On the final play of the drive, Rush had the tiniest of windows and slipped the pass through it; Lamb caught it with his left hand in the corner of the end zone for what would become a 20-13 lead.
Lamb finished the game with eight receptions for 87 yards, and the prettiest, most difficult, 1-yard catch possible.
It’s the type of catch the most recent Cowboys’ receiver who wore No. 88, Dez Bryant, was known to make.
Lamb’s statistics from Monday night’s games are not the gaudy numbers typically associated with the NFL’s elite No. 1 receivers that makes Fantasy Football owners so happy.
His first half was awful.
His second was brilliant, and for the first time he played like a receiver that could potentially make the Cowboys not regret trading Cooper to Cleveland.
Receiver Michael Gallup is close to returning from his knee injury he suffered late in the 2021 season. He could be active next week.
This isn’t about CeeDee as much as it is the state of the Cowboys. The team is surviving, and thriving, without starting quarterback Dak Prescott.
The Cowboys are 2-0 this season with backup quarterback Cooper Rush starting, and 2-1 overall. They have the awful Washington Commanders coming to Arlington on Sunday.
By this time next week, the Cowboys may very well be 3-1, and this start makes everything they want available.
If they are going to be all that, their No. 88 has to play more like he did in the second half on Monday night, when he looked more like Dez than Antonio.
