FRISCO, Texas — Guess who's back? Back again? CeeDee Lamb is back, tell a friend. The All-Pro wide receiver missed the previous three outings with a high ankle sprain suffered early in the Dallas Cowboys' loss to the Chicago Bears in Week 3, but returned to the practice field to prepare for his likely return in Week 7, when he'll help to combat the Washington Commanders.
Earlier in the week, owner and general manager Jerry Jones gave his record-setting receiver a "thumbs up" regarding his chances of playing this Sunday afternoon, and head coach and offensive play caller Brian Schottenheimer was a lot more optimistic — to say the very least.
"Yeah, if he's breathing," joked Schottenheimer. "Honestly, yeah. CeeDee knows how to play football. If he runs around and catches a pass or two, I'm good."
It doesn't get more definitive than that because, and this was confirmed visually, Lamb was on the practice field and his lungs were indeed converting oxygen into carbon dioxide.
So, pencil him in against the Commanders.
In the absence of Lamb, the Cowboys have seen the connection from All-Pro quarterback and MVP candidate Dak Prescott and George Pickens blast off into orbit. Pickens is coming off of a second career-best game in as many weeks, racking up a record-setting outing in Carolina that nearly, and should've, helped push the Cowboys to their third win of the season.
Having Lamb back in that mix has Pickens grinning ear to ear.
"I'm super excited," he said. "I don't even think the words can fully explain him, and possibly [KaVontae Turpin] too, so super excited. [The offense can be] way more dangerous and way more explosive, too, when you got other guys like CeeDee and Turp — it's another component of explosiveness that you can't really describe … and don't forget about Jake [Ferguson]."
Pickens is now very much in his groove, and having flashed when Lamb was on the field doing Lamb things, Schottenheimer couldn't be more excited to consider just how lethal his already No. 1 offense might be; and that's including the looming return of Turpin this week as well, and the fact Ferguson is, statistically, the most productive tight end in the NFL through the first six weeks.
"Well, I think what George has shown us over the last couple weeks is that we can move him around," said Schottenheimer. "You know, I think, really, it took George a little while forcing us to move him around. The one thing that George has proven over these last couple weeks is our ability to move him around, which makes us more difficult to defend, because CeeDee was the guy we were trying to move around, right?
"We were just kind of in one spot, but George has been terrific with us putting him into different spots, in different positions, and I think he kind of likes it, because I think it holds his attention and keeps him dialed in."
In all, Schottenheimer can't wait to make defenses try and stop one offensive toxin only to succumb to the others.
"I think it's a great thing," he said. "And integrating them both in and, you know, there's one ball — we know that, and they're both really good players, so we'll see where the defense makes the ball go."
Offensively, the Cowboys have created a monster, and though everybody wants to see Pickens some more, Lamb isn't exactly chopped liver.
