CeeDee Lamb — Week 1: Four Third Downs, Four Conversions
2026 NFL Season · Half-PPR Scoring · Monday, Sep 14
Lamb led the Cowboys with eight targets, five catches and 44 yards, scored the one-yard touchdown on third and one with 5:48 left in the half, and converted all four of his third-down targets, including a 15-yard catch on third and twelve to the New York two with 1:59 left in the third quarter. All five catches went for first downs, in a 28–20 loss to the Giants.
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21 to seven, Giants, one 59 left in the third quarter, third and 12 at the New York 17. Dak Prescott threw short left to CeeDee Lamb, who was brought down at the two. 15 yards, +3.0 expected points added — expected points added is what a play was worth given down, distance and field position — and 4.1 points of win probability, the chance of winning the game after the play against before it, the second-largest gain on any Cowboys play that counted. Javonte Williams scored from the one two snaps later. It was Lamb's fourth third-down target of the game, and his fourth conversion.
The line: eight targets, five catches, 44 yards, one touchdown, five first downs — every catch moved the chains — +5.6 expected points on the targets, the most by any Cowboys receiver, and a longest of 15. Three targets before halftime for two catches and 10 yards; five after for three catches and 34. The touchdown was third and one from the one with five 48 left in the second quarter, down seven to nothing, short left, one play after Williams's run to the same spot was reversed. The third-down list: third and one for the score, third and four for nine with a minute 18 left in the half, the third and 12 for 15, and third and five for six with six 57 left in the game. The three incompletions were a deep left in the first minute, a short left, and a deep right on second and 10 with five 47 left. He also took one handoff, left end, for no gain.
Eight targets led the team: six to George Pickens, five to Williams, four to Ryan Flournoy, two each to Jake Ferguson and Brevyn Spann-Ford, one each to KaVontae Turpin, Luke Schoonmaker and Jonathan Mingo, and four throws credited to no receiver. 27 percent of the throws that had a receiver's name on them went to him, per the weekly stat file. Between the two alphas it was Lamb eight targets, five catches, 44 yards, a touchdown; Pickens six, three, 28, none. 17 pass plays each half; Lamb's targets went three and five.
Back in June the preview called Lamb underpriced — the sixth receiver at pick 11 after a WR20 finish the market was reading as who he is, when the nine targets a game were the signal and the three touchdowns the noise — and named two things to watch: the red-zone looks with Pickens healthy, and the games-played column. Sunday was one game played, two targets inside the 20, one of them a touchdown, and a first down on every catch. 44 yards is a quiet night for a WR6 price, and the preview's case was never about yards. One game is one game; the two things it asked for, it got. The Cowboys are home to Washington on Sunday the twentieth.
_Data via nflverse._
When CeeDee Lamb's week moves the numbers, you'll know — every episode, in one weekly email.
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