ARLINGTON, Texas — Boing. That is what a bounceback usually sounds like, or at least that's what the commonplace onomatopoeia dictates, but if you want to know what it looks like, go ahead and turn on the film of what CeeDee Lamb did for the Dallas Cowboys in helping them take down Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs.
After suffering a handful of drops against the Philadelphia Eagles on Sunday, the All-Pro receiver stepped right in front of the train of accountability and promised to get back on track four days later with the entire nation watching on Thanksgiving and, spoiler alert, he did exactly that — first and foremost being thankful for the chance to do so.
"I'm thankful for life," said the four-time Pro Bowl receiver. "I'm thankful for my family. I'm thankful for my team. I'm thankful for my brothers. I'm thankful to be able to do what I do for a living.
"It's a lot. So I'm grateful, and I appreciate every opportunity."
Lamb racked up 112 receiving yards on seven catches to along with a touchdown and a 51-yard bomb in the fourth quarter that helped the Cowboys put the Chiefs away for good.
And those monitoring his effort will see plenty of it, both by way of the multiple defensive pass interferences drawn and, on one occasion during the Cowboys' second drive of the game, he became a defensive back to help prevent a target to him from becoming a second interception for All-Pro quarterback Dak Prescott.
"It's a team achievement and, overall, for myself, it's just good to be back on the right track," said Lamb. "... It's how it goes. No one can really guard me. It was just me dropping the ball, and I don't do that often, so it's just a series of events. It was a great experience for me.
"I learned a lot, and we move forward."
That means turning the page fairly quickly from their three-game win streak, amassed in only a 10-day span and against two of the league's previous two Super Bowl winners, for a meeting with the now-desperate Lions, and at Ford Field in Detroit; but Lamb and the Cowboys are now finding ways to win, and that's something that's completely flipped over what they endured during the first half of the 2025 season.
"That's just showing how serious we are about our business," he said of the post-bye success and complementary football being played. "[It shows] how serious we are about our business, man. Shout out to those guys [on defense]. They did a great job … We're trying to build something this year and continue to make strides and overall put our best football out there."
From an individual standpoint, it's not the first time this season Lamb has snapped back like a rubber band that's stretched to its limit. His previous rash of drops occurred against the Eagles in Week 1, and he mounted a 112-yard outing (literally the same amount of yards as he hung on the Giants in his Week 2 redemption game).
There was a lot of talk outside of the building, in the few days leading into the Thanksgiving matchup, about Lamb having somehow lost his ability to break open games, but that was never true and, after those detractors saw what he did against Trent McDuffie — one of the best cover corners in the NFL — and the Chiefs defense, Lamb has but one thing to say.
"This game ain't the only game I'm about to do this in," he said. "I can promise you that. So do what you want with that info. … Keep talking. I see y'all. That's my message. I see it."
