FRISCO, Texas — Finally back on track, the Dallas Cowboys are looking to keep the train on the rails. They put down the rival Eagles in Philadelphia, and in convincing fashion, but the challenge doesn't get easier simply because it's a home game at AT&T Stadium against an Arizona Cardinals team that's lost five of their last six games.
That's because it's the Cardinals, and the Cowboys have been cursed to fall to them far more often than not. And if anyone can attest to this fact, it's CeeDee Lamb, who hasn't beaten Arizona a single time since entering the league in 2020 — hellbent on changing that in Week 8.
"Yeah, it's just crazy," said the All-Pro receiver. "[We were] being very, very relaxed, and they punched us in the mouth every single time. They've always had more energy They were more excited, regardless of if it was a 12 o'clock, Sunday night or Monday night.
"We've played them in prime time, they beat us there. So, we need to treat them as if they are a Super Bowl contending team, which they may be, you know what I'm saying? Hats off to them in their prep, and we just got to go match them. If not overpowered that."
One of the keys to defeating the Cardinals is as simple as sticking to the run to control time of possession and to set up the opportunity to take shots in the air, the same formula that helped the Cowboys hang 38 points on the Eagles on Monday Night Football.
Heading into the MNF matchup, offensive coordinator Klayton Adams said the Cowboys were still searching for the identity in 2026. Lamb believes they didn't find it in Philadelphia so much as they simply rediscovered it.
"No, that's exactly who we are. We're better balanced," he said. " We could beat you in a run game. We could beat you in the pass [game]. as we all know. Honestly, just putting that on tape, for one, and then believing in it, for two. I feel like once you do those two things, you just gotta be consistent in that department."
Javonte Williams rushed for a career-high 155 yards and the Cowboys handed the ball off a total of 36 times, including to the change-of-pace back Tyler Goodson, and everything good came from it.
And that included three of Dak Prescott's best passes of the season that turned into a touchdown pass to George Pickens and two touchdown passes to Lamb who, during the game, continued to hammer at his belief that he is unguardable.
"I think my ability to line up anywhere in the offense and run any route on the route tree, I feel like I could be anybody in front of me, and I'm standing on that," he said, only two games removed from a career-best showing against the Houston Texans.
"I've always wanted to make my coach's job as easy as possible, because I know they're not out there and the less control that you have on a situation, I feel like it is the most stressful.
"So when I go out there, I just want them to be like, 'Hey, you go here and be here at this time.' That's simple, and you just let me do the rest."
The next assignment for the Cowboys is to obviously defeat the Cardinals, but what it would mean is just as important. More than simply exorcising a very real and nagging demon in Arizona, it would give Dallas their first two-game win streak of the 2026 season.
It has quite literally been an up-and-down season for them, and they won't achieve their goal this season if they can't get off of the roller coaster and start driving straight through opponents.
In the span of only six days, plucking two different types of bird will push them back to .500 and solid footing with nine games remaining.
"To be honest, the win one, lose one, it's not really — you don't get momentum as a team," said Lamb. "You don't get momentum. You don't get any leeway to say anything about what's going on after this without handling this right now. I feel like we just need to focus on one game at a time, no matter who it is, who we play, what time we play them, or where it's at.
"We need to go out there, handle business, and then we'll see."
