FRISCO, Texas — During Sunday's loss to the 49ers, Cowboys wide receiver CeeDee Lamb was noticeably discouraged on the sideline with the output on both sides of the ball as he separated himself on the sideline and showed a couple of moments of frustration following stalled out offensive drives.
While Lamb did say on Friday that he is almost always by himself both on the sideline and during pregame as part of his competitive process, he also admits that he could have handled Sunday's bitterness better in order to help the team.
"I had time to self-reflect," Lamb said about this week. "I didn't go the best route to get my end result [in San Francisco]. At the end of the day, I do have a job to do. I want to contribute to this team and I'll do anything in my power week in and week out."
While there was probably a lot of truth in his visible sideline frustration at Levi's Stadium last week in one of the worst offensive showings since Lamb arrived in Dallas, the Cowboys' leading receiver from a year ago also took time to call out the critics who maybe looked too deep into his emotions.
"They swear they know me," Lamb said. "I don't know none of them."
Lamb took time with Dak Prescott earlier this week to reset and re-center what the Cowboys are trying to do offensively. Through five games, Dallas' passing offense is 20th in the NFL which has affected the production for Lamb and his fellow receivers.
"I didn't get the start that I wanted," he said. "I have high expectations from myself. Every week after the game, I have time to self-reflect and ask what's going on, what am I doing to help the team? Have I done everything to contribute to a win? When I have no as an answer, then that's when I start to figure out ways of being better for my team, a better player and a better teammate."
The beauty of the issue for Lamb is that it's still early in the season and that there are still 12 games to work out the problems on the offensive side. And if the upcoming result is indicative of what the Cowboys have done since he arrived in 2020, then he's confident in a bounce back.
"It happens, not every team is gonna be great for 17 games straight," he said. "We planned for that. Some things hit the fan, and it's all about how you bounce back. We've preached resilience since I've been here, so we gotta prove that we're still that team."
Personally, a lot remains on the table for Lamb.
"I got a long way to go."
