The Dallas Cowboys offense struggled heavily in the early portions of Sunday’s Wild Card matchup with the Green Bay Packers, which was a storyline throughout much of the game. This led to Fox’s broadcasters Kevin Burkhardt and Greg Olsen referencing to some tension between Cowboys stars Dak Prescott and CeeDee Lamb on multiple occasions.
Prescott and Lamb have been on the same page throughout the season, with Lamb leading all receivers in the NFL in receptions in the regular season.
Sunday’s game was an entirely different story for Lamb and Prescott, as the two struggled to show off their typical rapport early on against the Packers’ defense.
Lamb’s first two targets of the game resulted in drops due to a lack of timing with Prescott. This prompted Greg Olsen to say that Lamb and Prescott “weren’t on the same planet”.
As you would expect, viewers quickly picked up on this narrative that continued throughout most of the first quarter about Lamb and Prescott.
Is there something weird going on with Dak & CeeDee? Broadcast seems to think so. Just competitive frustration?
— Ben Rogers (@BenRogers) January 14, 2024
Baby K-K and Olsen REALLY leaning into this Dak & CeeDee “dynamic” angle. Are they over-selling it, or do they know something?
— Steve Czaban (@czabe) January 14, 2024
On top of that, Fox sideline reporter Erin Andrews also noted that Cowboys head coach Mike McCarthy and several players went over to Lamb on the bench to give him a pep talk.
Even once Lamb and Prescott started to produce in garbage time, they were shown looking dejected numerous times on the Fox broadcast.
https://twitter.com/Mohqoshin/status/1746687311515992523
Burkhardt and Olsen received high marks by most viewers for their calls of the game. But it is at least worth questioning whether they were perhaps overselling the tension between Prescott and Lamb early on in the game.
Prescott was asked about the narrative around himself and Lamb, immediately shooting down the talk on the broadcast.
“Two competitors wanted to be perfect and we weren’t perfect early,” Prescott told NFL Network’s Jane Slater. “Far from being disconnected.”
I asked Dak Prescott about the suggestion that something was off with him and CeeDee Lamb tonight. His answer? “Two competitors wanted to be perfect and we weren’t perfect early. Far from being disconnected.”
So you guys are good? “Amazing, amazing”— Jane Slater (@SlaterNFL) January 15, 2024
Prescott went on to say that his relationship with Lamb is “amazing”, which was obviously far from the story that Olsen and Burkhardt were telling on the broadcast on Sunday.
The moral of the story here should be that a lack of production on the field obviously doesn’t exactly mean that there is some underlying issue. And if Prescott’s perspective is to be believed, it seems like he and Lamb will be good to go as one of the best duo’s in the NFL next season.
