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CeeDee Lamb has never known a single second in his NFL career without pressure.
He hadn't finished his first day as a Dallas Cowboy before having the iconic No. 88 bestowed upon him by owner Jerry Jones. And after just two seasons in the league, the Cowboys traded Amari Cooper, and installed Lamb as their No. 1 wide receiver.
Pressure. On top of pressure. On top of self-inflicted pressure.
"I feel like I've put more pressure on myself than anyone has on me," Lamb said Monday, after the Cowboys 23-16 win over the New York Giants. "So that's why I say being in this position is not really you know anything big to me because personally I'm thinking bigger."
The position Lamb found himself in on Monday night was goat. No doubt about it, an if-we-lose-it's-on-you type of goat. An inexplicable drop, as Lamb ran wide open deep in the Giants secondary, on a play that conceivably could have gone for a Cowboys touchdown, that left Lamb in a swirl of emotions.
"Very frustrating," Lamb said. "Honestly, just because I mean I practice all week all offseason just on focusing in focusing on the ball and I let that one slip away. It was tough."
Lamb let the frustration stew for over a quarter.
"It was a tough third quarter just kind of thinking about it," Lamb said. "I kept thinking about it. All the guys kept preaching to me to let it go. Let it go. We still got more game left. And then, fourth quarter when I kept hearing my number being called, I knew it was my opportunity again, so I had to step up."
And did he ever.
First, Lamb got open for quarterback Cooper Rush to find him over the middle for a 17-yard hookup, that got the Cowboys into Giants territory. Four plays later, the Cowboys would call Lamb's name again. On 4th & 4, in a tie ball game, Rush found Lamb right at the sticks, and Lamb held on despite getting rocked by the Giants' Dane Belton.
"I was willing to do anything to make up for, you know, a touchdown potentially that I left in the first [half]," Lamb said afterward, of taking a huge shot and still hanging on for the conversion.
Then, on consecutive plays, the Cowboys dialed up "88" again. First, on a delay route, Lamb got wide open after pretending to block, and Rush found him for 26 yards. The Cowboys slender wideout lowered his shoulder and drove straight through the chest of the Giants Fabian Moreau, releasing all that first half frustration, and getting down inside the 1-yard line.
"You can say that, yeah," Lamb said. "[It was an] opportunity to showcase my strength. And honestly, I didn't feel like dancing and I wasn't gonna give him the benefit of the doubt of just pushing me out. So he had to feel me."
Finally, the pièce de résistance. Rush lobbed a beautiful ball to the back corner of the end zone, and Lamb hauled in a spectacular one-handed touchdown grab, tapping both feet just inside the sideline, to give Dallas the lead back.
Lamb was full goat. And yet, he virtually erased the drop by leading his team to a win. And he displayed his mental toughness in the process.
"I always knew I had it," he said. "It was just kind of me just you know, being positive throughout the whole situation. It was a situation where I had to deal with it most importantly on my own, you know. Obviously just understanding that I'm the one that dropped the ball for the guys. So, knowing that I had to make this up in the back end of the game, understanding that the game was gonna go down to the wire, I had to step up, it was mandatory."
Lamb is not done feeling the pressure. In fact, a performance like this will only escalate it, as Cowboys fans will expect more of what he did in the fourth quarter, but regularly. He's the No. 1 now. That's the job.
But he's learned something about playing this role and being the Cowboys top receiver.
"It's going to have ebbs and flows," Lamb said. "It's all about being consistent. Staying positive. Everything is not gonna go my way. [But] when it does, it's gonna go big."
