The Dallas Cowboys made the decision to shut down All-Pro receiver CeeDee Lamb for the final two games of the season, with the shoulder injury now becoming a serious problem for No. 88 to navigate.

Having played for the best part of six to seven weeks with an AC joint injury, Lamb continued to put up solid numbers with Cooper Rush, but every time he landed on that right shoulder. the pain was evident.

It came to a head against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on a 52-yard completion that saw CeeDee land squarely on that shoulder, along with a Tampa Bay defender. As such, Lamb barely saw the field for the entire second half.

Now, with the Cowboys officially out of playoff contention, Lamb has been wrapped in mothballs, and head coach Mike McCarthy has revealed that the risk was too high for CeeDee to continue playing in 2024.

“CeeDee, we all know what he means to our football team,” McCarthy said on 105.3 The Fan. “He’s been playing with the shoulder for some time and when he had the scans and the examination, it was clearly worse than it’s been. So the risk is too high to play this week, even if we were in week three, this would probably be the same decision. So it’s important for him to shut it down and start rehabbing.”

Lamb, like a host of other Cowboys starters in Dak Prescott, Zack Martin, and Trevon Diggs, have all seen their seasons end via injury. But this one is a bit different in the sense that fans are wondering if additional (and needless?) damage was done with Lamb having battled through the problem.

Dallas’ answer seems to be that no surgery is required … so the “damage,” if any, was negligible.

It has been a season from hell for Dallas injury-wise, with a host of players missing large chunks of time, and while Lamb played through the pain barrier for over a month when he had every right to wave the white flag, it shows what he is willing to do for his team.

But now, after surpassing 1,000 receiving yards yet again, he will now get an early start on his rehab, after doing everything and more to help his team fight through the adversity of this season.