Lamb’s injury occurred in the first quarter of Dallas’ Week 3 loss to the Chicago Bears on Sunday, where he lined up as a running back and took a handoff.
As he tried to turn the corner, Lamb was tackled awkwardly and came out of the game. In retrospect, Schottenheimer still had no regrets for using his All-Pro wide receiver out of the back field.
“No, absolutely not,” Schottenheimer said when asked if he second guessed himself for using Lamb as a running back. “I mean, you call passes and runs for people, try to get them the ball and it’s unfortunate, but we’re still going to call quarterback runs with Dak at times. You hate to see it happen, but no second thoughts about it.”
For the second straight week, a Cowboys playmaker has gone down with an injury and caused Schottenheimer and his staff to need to adjust on the fly. It was KaVontae Turpin last week, and now Lamb against the Bears.
In his absence, Dallas’ skill players need to do everything they can to try and make up for him not being on the field.
“Guys have to step up,” Schottenheimer said. “That’s a big part of it. I think we are very fortunate to still have a guy like [George Pickens], you saw [Jalen Tolbert] step up and make some plays, Jake Ferguson had an awesome game, but injuries are unfortunately a big part of this business. It’s hard to replace a guy like CeeDee, but guys got to step up and do that.”
In Pickens’ case specifically, this will not be new territory as one of, if not the primary passing target. In two of his three seasons with the Steelers, Pickens was the leading receiver and finished second on the team in receiving yards his rookie season.
Now, the Cowboys will be leaning on him to replicate that kind of production without his counterpart Lamb on the field.
“This is going to be nothing different for GP in that regard…” Schottenheimer said. “I think he’ll miss having his buddy out there with him, and I think that’s where CeeDee’s leadership and professionalism will show up.”
The upcoming challenge for Dallas’ offense comes in the form of the Green Bay Packers, who have allowed the seventh least passing yards through three games this season and are third in the league in sacks with 10.
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