5 reasons the Cowboys can steal a win over the Bengals in Week 2
By Randy Gurzi
2. CeeDee Lamb has something to prove
Week 1 was not the WR1 debut Lamb was looking for.
After Dallas inexplicably traded Amari Cooper for a late-round draft pick, Lamb became the No. 1 wideout. He recorded 1,102 yards and six touchdowns in his second season, and he said he was ready for the role.
That didn’t appear to be the case against Tampa Bay, however. Lamb had the lowest catch percentage in the NFL — of players with five or more targets — after bringing in just two of 11 passes.
Cowboys WR CeeDee Lamb caught 18.2% of his targets (2-of-11) vs. Buccaneers, the lowest rate of the 89 players who saw five or more targets in Week 1. Bucs undercut many of team's routes. He'll look to find better rhythm, separation Sunday vs. Bengals. pic.twitter.com/9ssNQcpT6w
— Michael Gehlken (@GehlkenNFL) September 14, 2022
In Lamb’s defense, many of those targets were completely misfired but he still had a couple of unfortunate drops. He also knows that he can do much better than he did, which should motivate him to turn it up a notch in Week 2 against the Bengals.
Cincinnati did only surrender 194 yards through the air but it was also Mitchell Trubisky’s first game as the starter. Trubisky isn’t known for throwing it deep, which was the case again as Pat Freiermuth led them with 75 yards receiving on five receptions and Diontae Johnson had 55 yards on seven catches.
Whether Rush is better than Trubisky overall is a completely different debate but he’s shown he will try and push the ball downfield — evidenced by Lamb’s performance with him in Week 8 last year.
This week, he’s going to be out to prove he’s capable of the job and his rapport with Rush will play a huge part in him doing just that.