CeeDee Lamb torches Commanders for 8/153/2

It wasn’t a clean game for the alpha wide receiver by any stretch, who committed two drops and caught only five of his team-leading 12 targets. Despite the poor efficiency, Lamb made the plays he needed to when it mattered most, scoring from nine yards out on a fade to the back corner of the end zone and from 16 yards out on a similar play to the opposite sideline. Lamb has now seen 56 targets in his previous four games, with 12 or more in three of his last four. That level of volume keeps him in elite company near the top of rest-of-season wide receiver rankings in fantasy circles, where he will remain ahead of a Week 8 matchup against the Cardinals at home.

Lamb was targeted relentlessly against the match-zone-based Green Bay defense but suffered through an up-and-down connection with quarterback Dak Prescott on his way to middling fantasy returns. The Cowboys managed under 100 yards in the first half and were victimized by two Prescott interceptions deep in Green Bay territory, leading to a game environment that required 55 Prescott dropbacks. Even with a second consecutive middling-to-poor performance from a fantasy first round pick, Lamb is still pacing for a 1,500-yard, 11-touchdown season, plenty to provide a solid return on investment for fantasy managers that used their top pick on his services. Lamb could be busy again in Week 7 against the inside-funnel nature of the Philadelphia defense, where he will once again be a fantasy WR1.

Lamb played through a quad bruise last week but exacerbated the issue and left the game late in the fourth quarter. The injury is not believed to be serious and a full practice today means Lamb isn’t at risk of missing Week 6. Despite burning fantasy managers with two catches for nine yards last time around, Lamb remains one of the best fantasy football wideouts in play this week.

Lamb was on the field for a few more plays in Thursday’s loss to the Buccaneers after his injury was announced. Rapoport reports that Lamb is believed to be dealing with a quad bruise, which is not believed to be serious. Lamb and the Cowboys now have over a week to rest up before facing the Packers on Sunday Night Football in Week 6. Barring an unexpected development, we would expect Lamb to be good to go for next week’s game against the Packers at Lambeau Field.

Lamb departed in the fourth quarter with a quad injury. He tried to return but managed one snap before making his way back to the sideline, coming back on the field later in the drive for a two-point attempt. He was shown on the sideline in visible discomfort following the additional two snaps. Lamb managed to catch just 2-of-5 targets for nine yards prior to departing. Fantasy managers will want to track his status in the coming week, although the additional recovery time could allow him to avoid any missed games.

He simply could not be stopped the way the Texans were playing defense. Lamb feasted on the sideline and against zone coverages — his longest catch went just 30 yards — and he had the go-ahead touchdown with less than 30 seconds left that had FOX’s Greg Olsen wondering why any defense would play him that way when he’d been that productive over the course of the game. He’d never managed more than 17 targets in a game before today. Obviously he won’t do this again, but Lamb has delivered for those who lucked into him in the late first-round mix and will again be a plug-and-play alpha WR1 against the Bucs on Thursday night.

That makes it back-to-back games of 100-plus yards for Lamb. Lamb didn’t officially find the end zone on this one, but he did come up with a catch on a two-point reception in the third quarter to cut the Ravens’ lead to 24-21. He came up with a few big plays in the fourth quarter, with his biggest being a 49-yard reception on a drive that ended with a KaVontae Turpin rushing touchdown to briefly give the Cowboys the lead. Despite being out-targeted 11 to 8 by George Pickens in this one, Lamb has looked like the unquestioned WR1 for the Cowboys through the first three weeks. He’s totaled 15 receptions for 265 yards and two touchdowns over the last two weeks and is a high-end WR1 in next week’s game against the Texans.

Although he lead the team in both targets and receiving, Lamb got off to a slow start while committing an early drop. He would score from one yard out in the second quarter after a Javonte Williams touchdown was ruled short of the goal line and also draw a defensive pass interference penalty in the second half that would lead to a Williams score, but the Cowboys simply had problems creating the chunk plays that ruled the roost in 2025. Better days are likely ahead for the perennial WR1, which starts in a Week 2 home showdown against another divisional opponent in the Commanders.

Solak’s prediction was among his bold predictions for the 2026 NFL season. Prescott having a shot at 5,000 yards, Solak said, would hinge on the Cowboys remaining a fast-paced offense in 2026. Last season the Cowboys led the league in play clock remaining at the snap and offensive plays per game, leading to 600 passes for Dak — a career high. The wideout duo of George Pickens and CeeDee Lamb won’t hurt matters for Prescott, who has eclipsed 4,500 passing yards three times in his NFL career. Pickens’ downfield ability was reflected in Prescott finishing sixth in deep ball accuracy last season. “The volume will be there for Prescott to not just lead the league in passing in 2026 but to once again challenge for the 5,000-yard milestone,” Solak said. Quarterbacks have thrown for more than 5,000 yards just 14 times in league history.

Restructuring the contracts of Prescott, Lamb and Smith will create $66 million in cap space. Schefter also passes along that Cowboys owner Jerry Jones said the Cowboys will rework the contracts of DTs Kenny Clark, Quinnen Williams and Osa Odighizuwa, who are scheduled to count around $63 million against the cap. With the new cap set at $301.2 million, the Cowboys had negative-$56.1 million in cap space. These moves help Dallas become compliant and have money to work with this offseason.