Cowboys news: CeeDee Lamb on the mindset for playing Detroit

CeeDee Lamb on bounce back performance, upcoming ‘playoff game’ vs. Lions – Tommy Yarrish, DallasCowboys.com

CeeDee Lamb’s longest career touchdown came against the Lions, and he’s coming off a redemption game versus the Chiefs.

If there ever is a mental hurdle that Lamb needs to clear, how does he deal with approaching it and finding the way to jump over it?

“Just be able to cope,” Lamb said. “You’ve got to be able to understand the problem, being open to solutions, and at the end of the day acting on your thoughts. I feel like adversity shows itself in different ways, it’s all on how you overcome it.”

Their next obstacle is the Detroit Lions, who beat Dallas 47-9 last season. That came a year after Lamb posted his career-high 227 receiving yards and a touchdown on 13 catches. He’s familiar with the challenges that Dan Campbell’s unit presents, especially with their physical identity.

“I find fun in that,” Lamb said of playing a physical team like Detroit. “That’s what football is, and then sometimes the ref will let you play, and then sometimes they won’t. So we’ll see how that goes, but as far as the physicality of the game, I know what’s going to happen.”

“I know that these DBs, they like to put hands on. They run a lot of man and they’re going to be in your face. You know what’s going on in this fight, it’s just on how you’re going to prepare for it. It’s almost like a boxing match.”

When on the road this year, the Cowboys have won just two of their six games, beating the Jets and Raiders but losing by an average of 11 points in their other four away tests. Does Lamb feel like Dallas is missing a signature road win this year?

“Missing? I wouldn’t say that, but I do say we do need it,” Lamb said.

Red-zone defense among 3 things Cowboys must improve to tame the Lions – Mike Crum, The Cowboys Wire

Thursday night feels like a game that will be won with touchdowns, not field goals.

Dallas had an average starting field position of 17.8 in their contest against the Kansas City Chiefs. Six times they began their drive inside the 20, including twice inside the five and once at the 10. The Chiefs started at the 35 on average and had six drives beginning ahead of the 30-yard line. They didn’t start inside their own 20 once.

Having to drive over 80 yards to score a touchdown isn’t sustainable. The Cowboys were able to overcome it and escape with a three-point win, but they need to improve in that area of the game going forward.

Redzone defense

As much as the defense has improved for the Cowboys since the trade for Quinnen Williams, the area they still struggle in is the red zone. The Philadelphia Eagles were perfect on three trips to the red zone in their game, and four days later, the Chiefs did the same. The Eagles and Kansas City are two tough teams, but allowing them to combine for six touchdowns on six attempts in the red zone is going to bite them if it isn’t corrected quickly.

All other areas of the defense have improved. The Cowboys need to make red zone defense a priority.

The Cowboys proved they have a gameday advantage we didn’t expect, and two more things we’ve learned from 3-0 run – Mauricio Rodriguez, A to Z Sports

Back-to-back wins against Nick Sirriani and Andy Reid has Brian Schottenheimer looking pretty, pretty good.

1. Coaching is a legit gameday advantage for the Cowboys

Ahead of the Cowboys’ Thanksgiving matchup versus the Kansas City Chiefs, I couldn’t help but think there was one obvious mismatch that could cost Dallas the game: Coaching.

Now, my thought wasn’t at all against Brian Schottenheimer’s staff, which has been impressive in many ways. But it was about facing head coach Andy Reid and defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo on a short week. Those are two of the very best in their respective positions. But the Cowboys showed up in a major way.

One way it showed up was Malik Davis’ 43-yard touchdown run, which according to Cowboys OC Klayton Adams, was put back in the playbook to punish the Chiefs’ tendencies to jump out of gaps. In Davis’ run, Chris Jones jumps out of his gap to pass rush and the defense pays the price big time.

“That was a play that we had run earlier in the season and then we had put back in that plan late just because there are certain teams, with the kind of pass rushers around the league, where you’ll see guys jumping out of gaps a little bit,” Adams told reporters Monday. “They’re hard to block because they’re really good players. But how you try to punish somebody for that is you try to get the ball through the line of scrimmage quickly. And so that’s kind of where we were going with that. And I think we were all kind of taken by surprise that it hit the way that it did.”

Davis’ run was a surprise, indeed. But I was mostly shocked at how well they game planned and executed against such a good and experienced staff.

Abanikanda’s Arrival Raises Stakes for Jaydon Blue in Dallas – Cody Warren, Inside The Star

The Cowboys very quietly made an interesting move at running back after the Chiefs win.

We have watched Malik Davis hold his own behind Williams the last couple of games, but the focus seems to be on building reliable, explosive depth.

That’s where Abanikanda could enter the fold.

Young, Unproven, and Untapped Potential

Fans need to know Abanikanda is just 23 years old, he brings top-tier athleticism to the practice squad.

During his breakout 2022 season at the University of Pittsburgh, he rushed for 1,431 yards and 20 touchdowns, showing the big-play ability Dallas seems to value in a backup.

His blend of power and speed makes him a great developmental back behind Williams and Davis.

I know the Cowboys are not looking for a running back to carry the offense. They have that in Williams, but Abanikanda is a young runner who can strengthen the depth at the position.

A low-cost, high upside addition is a very Jerry and Stephen Jones type of move.

Where Does Jaydon Blue Fit Into the Cowboys RB Picture

We all could not wait for rookie running back Jaydon Blue to get on the field for the Cowboys, but his debut was lackluster to put it lightly.

Blue has been a healthy scratch in nearly every game this season and is unable to play on special teams, negating his value to the team.

We all remember the accusations that he was lazy in practice and never seemed to be ready to play. Those speculations were debunked by running backs coach Derrick Foster, but why would they admit a player is lazy.

One has to wonder if the addition of Abanikanda shifts the competitive landscape. Blue is no longer the lone developmental back on the roster.

2025 NFL playoffs: Reason for hope for seven bubble teams entering Week 14 – Jeffri Chadiha, NFL.com

You gotta believe.

NFC BUBBLE TEAMS

Seed 9

Dallas Cowboys 6-5-1

REASON FOR HOPE: Team chemistry.

No team in the league has been playing better than Dallas. The Cowboys rallied from a 21-point deficit to beat the defending Super Bowl champion Philadelphia Eagles in Week 12. They then outlasted Kansas City four days later on Thanksgiving with another victory that proved how much this team has grown over the past month. It wasn’t that long ago that people were snickering at a squad that could score 40 points and give up 40 points in the same game (which happened in an early-season tie with Green Bay). Today, the Cowboys are dramatically different. Quarterback Dak Prescott has officially entered the MVP race with his stellar play. He’s guiding one of the best offenses in football, one that has benefited from the maturation of receiver George Pickens, the brilliance of fellow wideout CeeDee Lamb and the surprising production of running back Javonte Williams, an unheralded free-agent acquisition who’s been one of the most productive ball-carriers in the league. But the real story around Dallas is the defensive turnaround. That unit allowed at least 30 points in five of its first eight games (while surrendering at least 40 points in two of those contests). The Cowboys have now given up a total of 65 points in their last three games, largely because of new arrivals (defensive tackle Quinnen Williams and linebacker Logan Wilson) and players returning from injuries (like linebacker DeMarvion Overshown and safeties Donovan Wilson and Malik Hooker). Throw in kicker Brandon Aubrey, who possesses one of the strongest legs in the league, and you can see Dallas has plenty to throw at opponents. But let’s also appreciate how this team has bonded under first-year head coach Brian Schottenheimer. He kept this group steady after a 3-5-1 start and the tragic death of defensive end Marshawn Kneeland. It’s clear the Cowboys are built on promise and purpose these days. The question is whether that’s enough to carry them into the playoffs with such a razor-thin margin for error.