The Dallas Cowboys (2-2-1) got their act together in Week 5. Now the mission is to sustain that excellence and perform well in back-to-back contests. To do so, they’ll need to take out the Carolina Panthers who are a surprising 2-0 in the friendly confines of Bank of America Stadium so far this year.
Dallas has managed to go on a bit of a scoring spree, totaling 77 points over their last two contests as Brian Schottenheimer’s offense has been humming under the leadership of quarterback Dak Prescott. He’s thrown seven touchdowns and zero interceptions over the two games, and it’s even more impressive considering he’s done this without top receiving weapon CeeDee Lamb. Lamb injured his leg early in Week 3, after just seven snaps, meaning he’s missed essentially three games.
The Cowboys didn’t place Lamb on injured reserve with his ankle sprain though, and his rehabilitation efforts ramped up this week. The question is, have things improved to the point that he’ll take the field in Carolina?
Unfortunately for Dallas, Lamb’s ankle sprain has already ruled him out for the contest. The Cowboys have done a masterful job of making things work without him. In Week 4, George Pickens showed up and showed out, notching 134 receiving yards and scoring two touchdowns. With Sauce Gardner covering him for most of Week 5, he still emerged to score on a long touchdown pass, but the star of the show was second-year WR Ryan Flournoy.
Flournoy tallied 114 receiving yards, a career high, along with a career high six receptions. With Panthers CB Jaycee Horn expected to shadow Pickens on Sunday, Flournoy could be in line for another huge performance as he fills in once again for Lamb.
The three-time All-Pro leads all Cowboys, averagine 111 yards per game (technically 74 but again, he left Week 3 on the first drive with no catches), but his absence seems to be allowing the relationship between other receivers and QB Dak Prescott to flourish, indicating that things can really take off to the stratosphere when Lamb returns healthy, which could come as early as Week 7 against the Washington Commanders.
