After a demoralizing loss in Brazil to the Baltimore Ravens, the Dallas Cowboys came into Sunday’s matchup against the Houston Texans as a desperate team. Since the 2015 season, 14.9% of teams have made the playoffs after starting 1-3 (13 of 87) versus 43.3% of teams that started 2-2 (45 of 104).
If Dallas lost this game and fell to 1-3, their playoff hopes would start to slip away just four weeks into the regular season. Thankfully, the Cowboys bounced back in a big way from the heartbreaking loss last Sunday, delivering a 34-30 victory over the Texans.
Dallas’ offense was the star of the show in the second half of Sunday, led by five-time Pro Bowl receiver CeeDee Lamb. The seven-year pro put the Cowboys on his back, posting a career day and earning this week’s game ball award.
Lamb put together one of the best receiver performances of the past decade in Houston. The 27-year-old caught a career-high 17 passes for 189 yards to go with scoring the game-winning touchdown late in the fourth quarter.
While this was undoubtedly his best performance of the year, Lamb’s performance on Sunday was a continuation of an unbelievable start to his 2026 campaign. Four games in, Lamb has recorded 37 receptions for 498 yards, both the most in the NFL, to go with four receiving touchdowns. Lamb’s has already surpassed his previous career-high of 332 receiving yards through four regular-season games from last season.
There is no denying that Lamb looked like the best receiver in the National Football League on Sunday in Houston. He did everything a true generational receiver is supposed to do, including taking over the game when his team needed him most.
There is some hope that the Cowboys will figure things out defensively as the season unfolds, but it is becoming increasingly clear that this team is going to have to be carried by its offense. That may seem like a tall task, but if Lamb continues to play at this level, he has the ability to make up for the team’s shortcomings on defense and help lead Dallas to a historic season on the offensive side of the ball.
For now, the message is simple: CeeDee Lamb is playing on a different level, and the Cowboys are going to go as far as he can carry them. Right now, it’s CeeDee Lamb’s world—and everyone else is just living in it.
