The Dallas Cowboys‘ CeeDee Lamb appears to go anonymous in the second half of games despite being a strong starter leading to confusion as to why the wide receiver is failing to make an impact, as head coach Mike McCarthy offers some answers.

Lamb has made 21 receptions for 353 yards in the opening two quarters of NFL games in the 2024/25 season but shockingly has only gone on to add four receptions for 25 yards when the second half begins.

He has been completely cut out of the Cowboys‘ offense in the second parts of matches, which is not what the franchise expects from an All-Pro they just penned to a $136 million deal over the summer. So what’s going on?

“The efficiency of the offense is the starting point,” McCarthy said to reports of Lamb. “Obviously, CeeDee is a featured player, but I don’t think it’s outside of Captain Obvious …

“They’re setting a coverage to him everywhere he goes, especially when he’s the only receiver. So we got to just keep working like we always do.

“But yeah I think the most important part is we had 10 guys touch the football [vs. the Steelers] and that should be the story.”

As a result of his struggles catching passes, Lamb has found himself more and more relegating to running back duties which is also adding to his ineffectiveness by failing to allow Dak Prescott and the receiver work out how to beat the coverage.

Who do the Cowboys play in Week 6?

Regardless, the Cowboys have still kicked off the ongoing season in solid form by sitting second in the NFC East with a .600 record and wins against the Cleveland Browns, New York Giants and Pittsburgh Steelers whilst their losses have come against the Baltimore Ravens and New Orleans Saints.

The Cowboys will look to improve to 4-2 for the season by defeating the 2023 NFC Conference Championship runners-up, the Detroit Lions, on Sunday, October 13. The game will kick off at the AT&T Stadium from 16:25 ET/13:25 PT.