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Dallas Cowboys wide receiver CeeDee Lamb said that he’s using franchise legend and ESPN NFL commentator Troy Aikman’s recent criticism of him and fellow Dallas wideouts as a “building block” and motivational fuel moving forward.
“As a leader, obviously I take it in,” Lamb said during a Football Night in America interview with NBC Sports’ Jason Garrett (topic begins at 7:22 mark).
“We got to work. I use it as a building block. If you said our routes are lazy, things of that sort, let’s go out here (gesturing to football field) every week, and I’m going to show you that my routes, you know, so I take that again, as constructive criticism. You can’t really take everything personal in this realm of work that we do, especially some things that we can control. So if we can control it, let’s go out here, work at it, and continue to get better at it.
“For me, I go work, I’m a hard worker…so anything that you say that I’m not doing, I’m going to show you that I am doing it.”
Garrett then asked if he was motivated by the noise.
“Oh no doubt,” Lamb replied. “No doubt.”
Aikman had this to say on the Cowboys wideouts during an appearance on 96.7 The Ticket sports radio Thursday (h/t Jon Machota of The Athletic).
“I think they run terrible routes,” Aikman said. “And I’ve thought that beyond this year. I think CeeDee (Lamb) has got to improve in his route running. As a quarterback, if you’re not certain where guys are going to be consistently, it’s hard to play the position. That’s what I see. I see guys lazy coming off the line of scrimmage. Sometimes they run, usually if they do, it’s because they’re anticipating they’re going to get the football on that play, but if they’re not, they don’t. And it all ties together. I’m not impressed with that part of it.”
Regardless of one’s opinion on the Cowboys’ receivers’ routes, it’s abundantly clear that things aren’t well in Dallas.
The defending NFC East champs have scuffled to a 3-3 mark and are coming off a disastrous 47-9 home loss to the Detroit Lions. They also fell 44-19 to the New Orleans Saints in Week 2. Dallas has scored 21.0 points per game (20th in the NFL) after posting 29.9 PPG (first overall) last year. The Cowboys’ pass game has particularly fared poorly, with the team averaging a pedestrian 6.1 net yards per attempt (18th).
The Cowboys have also allowed the second-most points per game.
Lamb has notably fallen off after a phenomenal 2023, with 32 catches for 467 yards and two touchdowns through six games. Last year, Lamb had 135 catches for 1,749 yards and 12 scores.
Simply put, Dallas needs Lamb and other wideouts to step it up in order to turn the season around.
The team’s next five games pose a tremendous challenge at the defending NFC champion San Francisco 49ers (who are struggling themselves at 3-4), at the 4-3 Atlanta Falcons, home against the 4-2 Philadelphia Eagles, home versus the 5-2 Houston Texans and at the 5-2 Washington Commanders.
Up first is San Francisco. Kickoff is set for 8:20 p.m. ET on Sunday.
