ARLINGTON, Texas — The Dallas Cowboys simply can’t catch a break, on or off the field.
On the field, they dropped to 3-7 after a 34-10 defeat against the Houston Texans on Monday night, becoming the first team in NFL history to trail by at least 20 points in six consecutive home games. Before the game, Dallas opened AT&T Stadium’s retractable roof, but then it had to close it after wind gusts dislodged a piece of the roof and swept it onto the field about two hours before kickoff.
The AFC South-leading Texans, who improved to 7-4 with the win, trolled their in-state foes by photoshopping a piece of the AT&T Stadium roof into an uppercase “L” with the caption “look out beLow.”
While All-Pro wide receiver CeeDee Lamb wasn’t directly asked about the tweet in the locker room postgame, he swiftly identified that Cowboys’ opponents are thirsty to embarrass them this season after they won 12 games in each of the last three regular seasons. Cowboys second-year linebacker DeMarvion Overshown added fuel to this fire Friday when he said Dallas was “still the big brothers” to Houston, even in a down year.
“Obviously, everybody is looking to embarrass us, right?,” Lamb said. “They have their opportunity when they try to put us out, and we had so much success over the last three years as far as in the regular season (with three consecutive 12-win seasons). … So for us, we got to find ways to gel together, play together and finish this thing out.”
As one of the Cowboys locker room’s top leaders with quarterback Dak Prescott on injured reserve following hamstring surgery, he’s urging his teammates to continue to play hard despite the consistent humiliation they’ve experienced at home.
“We got to go out there and play hard, bro,” Lamb said. “We got to play for the guys that’s lining up next to us, to our left and our right and then just put them before yourself. You know what I’m saying? It’s not so much selfishness, it’s about being selfless, and I feel like at that moment that’s when we’ll play better, we’ll gel together and everything will take care of itself. You can’t be selfish in a time like this. Everybody’s, hurt, everybody’s feeling bad about it.”
Lamb himself has been questionable with shoulder and back injuries the past two weeks, but he powered through both ailments to play in Week 10 against the Eagles and Week 11 versus the Texans.
“Everybody on my team knows I’m going through situations as far as for my body. But does that stop me from going out there and playing my heart out for these guys? No, absolutely not,” Lamb said. “So with that man, I take pride in what I do. I take pride in my game, and I take pride in playing for the fans and everything in between. So with that man, every week, I’m not coming out here playing to lose.”
