Cowboys’ defensive role under pressure in single-season record, ready to battle CB Jalen Ramsey
Now the current No. 88, 24-year-old Pro Bowl wide out CeeDee Lamb, has a chance to record a signature milestone of his own in the jersey. He needs nine catches on Sunday against the Miami Dolphins in Week 16 to break Irvin’s team single-season catches record of 111 set back in 1995. He came close to breaking the record in 2022 with 107 catches, but with 103 in 2023 with three games to go, Irvin should justifiably start sweating. Lamb is the first player in franchise history to record 100 or more catches in consecutive seasons. His total of 210 since 2022 is the second-most in the NFL behind a player who’ll be on the other sideline Sunday, Dolphins wide receiver Tyreek Hill and his 216 receptions.
A nine-catch game isn’t out of the question for Lamb. He has five such games this season, tied with Hill for the most in 2023.
“It’s not necessarily really on my mind,” Lamb said Thursday when asked about the record. “It’s good to be reminded of those things, showing all the hard work that I’ve done. I’m not really too focused on that to be honest.”
His focus for Week 16 resides with his upcoming battle against Dolphins cornerback Jalen Ramsey, a six-time Pro Bowler and three-time First-Team All-Pro who Miami acquired from the Rams in a trade this past offseason.
“Jalen has been doing it for awhile,” Lamb said. “He has had plenty of success. Coming in, it should be very exciting. I’m looking forward to it. We should get a lot of reps together.”
Machota: It’s pretty simple. They can start by tackling better. They were uncharacteristically poor at Buffalo, missing 12 tackles, much like Week 5 at San Francisco. It doesn’t appear they will have defensive tackle Johnathan Hankins (high ankle sprain) back Sunday. That’s a big loss for their run defense. There’s a better chance for a return of starting safety Malik Hooker (ankle). If they miss tackles like they did at Buffalo, they’ll get blown out again. But I imagine they’ll have a bounce-back performance in that area. They’ve never been a great run defense, but they’re much better than they showed Sunday.
Yousuf: They have to be more disciplined. Tackling has been a big talking point this week — understandably so — but the Dolphins have a different running game than the Bills. Miami is more prone to stretch the defensive front and beat you with speed more than power up the middle, though they are capable of that, too, and the Bills did just provide the blueprint. The issue for Dallas adjusting is that the solution isn’t as simple as just loading up the box because of the Dolphins’ outside receiving threats. That’s why it begins with discipline and ends with sure tackling.
