Cowboys' CeeDee Lamb, Dak Prescott find 'rhythm' during WR's breakout game vs. 49ers

But the Falcons secondary, led by Jessie Bates, Justin Simmons and A.J. Terrell, will pose a stiff challenge in Week 9

FRISCO, Texas -- The entire point of the Dallas Cowboys re-signing both All-Pro quarterback Dak Prescott (four years, $240 million) and All-Pro wide receiver CeeDee Lamb (four years, $136 million) this past offseason was so they could continue producing the fireworks that put up in 2023.

Dallas led the NFL in scoring offense (29.9 points per game) with Prescott leading the league in passing touchdowns (36) and Lamb leading the league in receptions (135) en route to a third consecutive 12-5 season. The start of 2024 hasn't been nearly as explosive with the Cowboys averaging 21.4 points per game, 22nd in the league in the midst of 3-4 stumble to the season. 

The drop-off is easily explainable since the offensive ecosystem is dramatically different now. Dallas now starts two rookies at arguably the two most important offensive line positions in first-round pick left tackle Tyler Guyton, who predominantly played right tackle at Oklahoma, and third-round pick center Cooper Beebe, who didn't take a snap at center in a single game at Kansas State. 

Their growing pains in offensive line pre-snap communication, and the team rolling with veteran undrafted free agent Rico Dowdle and late-stage versions of Ezekiel Elliott and Dalvin Cook have resulted in the Cowboys possessing the worst run game in the league, averaging 74.1 rushing yards per game. That mark is Dallas' fewest through seven games since the 1989 season, the first year of Jerry Jones' ownership and Hall of Fame quarterback Troy Aikman's rookie year. That Cowboys squad went 1-15. The inability to have an even slightly threatening run game and the inexperience upfront are major reasons why Prescott has struggled thus far. He has registered just 10 passing touchdowns to eight interceptions, his most interceptions through seven games in his career. Prescott ranks bottom 10 in the NFL in completions percentage (63.7%, 22nd in the NFL), touchdown-to-interception ratio (10-8, 24th in the NFL) and passer rating (84.5, 24th in the NFL) this season. 

"I've got to be better. Simple as that," Prescott said Thursday. "Take it for how it is, look at those plays independently, look at the other ones that probably could have been or could've turned out a different way than they did. But you're never going to knock my confidence. Some of them, the majority of it is decision so I go back and I guess a couple years ago, risk vs. reward. That's something just watching the film this week, it's just heavy on my mind. I think from that comes being able to, as I've said, get out of the picket, make other plays happen when you're weighing that risk. You know, when I've got the ball in my hands, it's not just about that play, it's about the team, the game, the momentum of it and just got to be better."

What did get better in Week 8 was his connection with Lamb after a rocky start to the season in which there were multiple instances of he and his top target not being on the same page with Lamb running a route one direction and Prescott's pass going another. That can certainly be attributed to Lamb's offseason holdout before receiving his new deal at the end of August, after training camp. Dallas' dynamic duo finally rediscovered their chemistry in Week 8 at the San Francisco 49ers in a narrow, 30-24 defeat that was made much closer after Prescott hit Lamb for two touchdowns in the fourth quarter. He finished with 146 receiving yards and those two touchdowns with 13 catches on 17 targets. 

Those 17 targets on his 35 routes run in the Cowboys' first game following their bye week against the 49ers led to a career-high 48.6% target rate for Lamb, over 20 percentage points higher than his target rate in Weeks 1-6 (25.6%), per NFL Pro Insights. That also aligns with the post-bye week involvement for him last season. Lamb was targeted on just 22.3% of his routes run from Weeks 1-6 before seeing his target jump to 34% from Weeks 8-18 when he ended up leading the NFL for the entire season in targets (181), receptions (135) while ranking second in receiving yards (1,749) and third in receiving touchdowns (12). 

"Yeah, I found CeeDee," Prescott said when reflecting back on Lamb's breakout in the Bay Area. "He did a good job of getting open, running all of his routes hard no matter where he was, if he was the one or if he was back side on a concept. Loved his intentionality in the game. He kind of said something like that to me during the game, midway through the game, like 'Yeah, we're back.' And that was before, I think, his two touchdown drives. So just him even playing with that confidence, communicating that, it gives me a lot of confidence."

"We found our rhythm, we caught our stride, and I was definitely getting open and getting the ball so I feel like it goes hand and hand and look to continue to do that," Lamb said Thursday. 

* Fourth career game with 10 rec, 100 rec yds, 2 rec TD (most in Cowboys history)

Challenging a star-studded Falcons secondary 

In order to keep the high-flying production to Lamb going, Prescott will have to navigate one of the most star-studded secondaries in the entire league when Dallas heads to Atlanta to face the 5-3 Falcons, the current NFC South division leaders. Pro Bowl safety Jessie Bates III, Pro Football Focus' 10th-highest graded cover safety (73.8 PFF coverage grade), minimum 100 snaps, and two-time Pro Bowl safety Justin Simmons, whose 31 career interceptions are the most in the NFL since both he and Prescott entered the NFL in 2016. 

"Just being aware where they are," Prescott said Thursday when talked about facing Bates and Simmons. "Great, as you said, ball-hawking guys who've been around for a while. Veterans know how to read concepts. Played against this defense a bunch, I guess you could say, and just the scheme point. Understanding they're going to have vision on me. But giving me things underneath, doing that, and then when they come up, take advantage of it, being able to move them with my eyes. It starts with having awareness where [Jessie] Bates and [Justin] Simmons both are."

Lamb is also preparing to face a fellow 2020 first-round draft pick in Falcons cornerback A.J. Terrell despite not matching up against him in their two previous meetings in Week 2 of 2020 and Week 10. Terrell lined up against Lamb on five of his 60 routes, 8.3%, in those two meetings, per NFL Pro Insights. Lamb racked up 200 yards and two touchdowns with catches on 12 of 16 targets in this matchups. Atlanta had him lining up at the left cornerback spot on 85% or more of his snaps in those two games, but in 2024, he has been more versatile in his fifth NFL season with an almost 50-50 spit at both right corner (51.1%) and left corner (48.7%), per NFL Pro Insights. Variety in the 26-year-old's game has yielded strong, early-season results: Terrell's 54.1 passer rating against as the primary defender in coverage is the ninth-best in the NFL among 60 players with at least 35 passes thrown their way. 

"The boys nice," Lamb said Thursday. "They got a young group back there and Jesse Bates is playing his best ball obviously. Being in the same class as A.J. Terrell and he's a helluva corner, tall, lengthy, got ball skills, very aggressive. I think they got Justin Simmons if I'm not mistaken, he's a ballhawk himself. We got our hands full but I'm sure we can handle it."

Dallas has started to find a rhythm of late by playing faster: their 32.2 seconds between plays is the fastest average time between snaps in the NFL. That's something Lamb believes will eventually lead to the Cowboys looking more like they did in 2023. 

"We play confident and fast we can score with anybody, and I feel like that's been our thing," Lamb said. "We get to the red zone and don't put up enough points, so just finishing our drives and ending the drives with seven, not so much three. We love Brandon [Aubrey] but he's taken care of us a lot, so trying to give him an off day."