ARLINGTON, Texas — Something isn't clicking with Dak Prescott and CeeDee Lamb through the first six games of the 2024 season, and it's one of several reasons the Dallas Cowboys' offense continues to stall when it can most ill afford to. A duo that has proven to be one of the most prolific in the NFL, and literally in NFL history, circa 2023, has been disjointed at times heading into the bye week.
In the 47-9 demolition at the hands of the Detroit Lions, the miscommunication between the two All-Pros again reared its head, and on more than one critical occasion. Lamb was targeted 14 times in Week 6, but only seven of them connected.
And one of those targets turned into a red zone interception on the second offensive drive on a play that, had it landed, would've given the Cowboys a 10-7 lead and changed the scope of the game from that point forward.
"The bye week most definitely will help," said Lamb. "And things that we've missed on are very small things, and I know I say that every week or that we'll be fine, but I know we will. Again, we just got to capitalize on the small mistakes. We've got to score.
"We've got to score touchdowns in the red zone. We've got to capitalize and continue moving the ball. I feel like there's some good also, but there's a lot more bad areas and we know we've got to fix that."
Absent an entire training camp for Lamb, the two are still working to get on the same wavelength in mid-October.
The aforementioned interception marked the second in as many weeks wherein Lamb was the intended target, a miscommunication in Pittsburgh leading to an easy takeaway for Donte Jackson.
It goes without saying that the offense in Dallas will go as the duo of Prescott-Lamb does, and the sooner they figure out the hiccups in their chemistry in between the white lines, the better. This is especially true when considering the next several opponents/defenses they'll go up against on the other side of their bye week.
"It was a tough day, in that sense," Prescott said of the missed connections with Lamb. "I mean, it wasn't just about me and CeeDee, [though] Yeah ,sure, there was one throw here, a route there — he would tell you — or a protection that wasn't great on one. If I had an answer, I promise you, we'd be a lot better and, as I mentioned, the same in the run game.
"It's a great time for us to figure it out and how to get better."
Approaching the halfway point of the season, it has to be now, and two weeks to prepare for the San Francisco 49ers will have to be enough time to right the ship.
"The season doesn't end in six weeks, I'll say that," Lamb added. "This bye week, we've got to use it to be better. We've got a lot Across the Halls, a lot of meetings, a lot of things we've got to clean up and, when we come back, we're going to be ready to work."
