Less than four months before the Browns drafted him No. 1 overall, Baker Mayfield caught a touchdown pass in the Rose Bowl – a pass thrown by an 18-year-old true freshman named CeeDee Lamb. Seven years later, when Mayfield and the Buccaneers will visit Lamb and the Cowboys this week, Lamb isn’t about to root for his first Oklahoma quarterback.
“I just hope he don’t win this week,” Lamb said Thursday. “He brought me in fresh out of high school. He kind of got me acclimated with this whole little realm of real football and not so much fun. It was fun in college … That’s when you have to start prioritizing different things. I had him in my corner. Obviously, he won the Heisman that year, so it was huge. Being able to play with him was phenomenal. Once again, wish him luck. Not a dub.”
A dub, as in win, on Sunday Night Football (8:20 p.m. ET, NBC) would give Dallas four wins over a five-game stretch. No one expects to see the Cowboys (6-8) in the postseason – they could be eliminated before kickoff on Sunday if the Commanders upset the Eagles – but Dallas is playing its best football at the end of the season. And while some NFL players are thinking about vacations with three games to play, Dallas is set on finishing in strong fashion.
Cowboys insider Ed Werder said this week that the team’s 30-14 win at Carolina last week told the NFL a lot about Mike McCarthy. And responding well after a devastating loss to Cincinnati, winning on the road during a short week, might’ve told McCarthy a new Dallas contract is in his future.
“I think if there was any quit in this team, it would’ve come in that game,” Werder said on the Doomsday Podcast. “I’m not saying they’re going to win out because their next three games are against teams with playoff ambitions.”
Those three teams – Tampa Bay (8-6), Philadelphia (12-2) and Washington (9-5) – are a steep hill. But the Cowboys had nothing to play for after a five-game losing streak dropped them to 3-7 on Nov. 18. There’s nothing squirrely about their play since.
For more information on the Cowboys and Buccaneers, visit the Dallas and Tampa Bay team pages at ProFootballPost.com.
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