CeeDee Lamb did not know how badly the Cowboys got dominated until a reporter told him, and his reaction was the most honest thing anyone in that locker room said all day.
Dallas lost 28-20 to the Giants at MetLife Stadium in Week 1, and the reason was not complicated. The Cowboys possessed the football exactly twice in the entire second half. When Lamb learned that, he needed a second.
“Oh, I ain’t know that. That’s crazy. That’s crazy. Good to know,” Lamb said.
The Math Behind the Loss
New York held the ball for 36:40. Dallas got 23:20. The Giants opened the second half with a 12-play drive that ate more than eight minutes and ended with an Isaiah Likely touchdown. Dallas answered with a 12-play drive of its own, capped by a Javonte Williams score.
Then in the fourth quarter, New York had the first and last possessions, with a single Cowboys drive sandwiched between them. That drive also ended in a Williams touchdown, which is the frustrating part. Dallas scored on both of its second-half possessions and still lost by eight.
You cannot win a football game you are not allowed to play in.
This Is a Defensive Failure, Not an Offensive One
Blaming Lamb or the Cowboys offense here misses the point. Dallas averaged a touchdown per drive after halftime. That is a perfect conversion rate. The problem is that a defense that cannot get off the field turns an efficient offense into a spectator.
Lamb finished with five catches for 44 yards and a touchdown. That line looks underwhelming until you account for the fact that he barely had opportunities. Five targets worth of snaps is not a sample size, and asking your No. 1 receiver to produce a 100-yard game on two second-half drives is not realistic.
The Giants figured out something on offense that should worry the rest of the NFC East. Sustained, methodical drives against Dallas were supposed to be difficult. They were not.
Week 2 Is a Problem
Dallas hosts Washington in the home opener at AT&T Stadium, and the Commanders are not going to be any easier to get off the field. If the Cowboys defense allows another 36-minute possession night, this becomes a pattern rather than an outlier, and 0-2 in the division is a hole that tends to stay a hole.
The encouraging sign is Javonte Williams, who found the end zone twice. Dallas has wanted a reliable interior runner for years and might have one.
The discouraging sign is everything else. Lamb’s reaction told you the players did not feel how lopsided the game was in the moment, which happens when you are on the sideline watching. That is the thing about time of possession: it does not feel like anything until you look up and the game is over.
Dallas has six days to figure out how to force a punt.
A longtime sports reporter, Carlos Garcia has written about some of the biggest and most notable athletic events of the last 5 years. He has been credentialed to cover MLS, NBA and MLB games all over the United States. His work has been published on Fox Sports, Bleacher Report, AOL and the Washington Post.