The Dallas Cowboys will be playing for their playoff lives against the Minnesota Vikings on Sunday night. With their playoff odds dropping to 11% entering Week 15, according to NFL.com, the Cowboys will need to put their best foot forward and have all hands on deck.
That made ESPN’s Adam Schefter’s report more meaningful on Thursday afternoon. Per Schefter, CeeDee Lamb practiced in full after suffering a concussion in last week’s loss to the Detroit Lions and is on track to play on Sunday night.
Obviously, the Cowboys will welcome back Lamb, who remains the Cowboys’ top target in the passing game with 57 catches for 865 yards and three touchdowns this season. But the news is even sweeter for his running mate, George Pickens, who could have more opportunities to get downfield against the Vikings’ secondary.
George Pickens Is Cowboys’ Biggest Winner with CeeDee Lamb’s Potential Return
Lamb was injured attempting to make a leaping grab in the third quarter against the Lions, and it left Dallas shorthanded against Detroit’s high-octane offense. While the Cowboys’ defense couldn’t stop Jahmyr Gibbs, the Dallas offense had issues, including getting the ball to George Pickens.
Pickens thrived without Lamb earlier in the season, catching 19 passes for 359 yards and four touchdowns when Lamb missed three games in October with a high ankle sprain suffered in a Week 3 loss to the Chicago Bears. But when Lamb went out last week, the Lions took the opportunity to cover Pickens like prime Randy Moss, keeping a safety over the top to keep Pickens from going downfield.
The move didn’t stop the Cowboys completely as Ryan Flournoy stepped up with nine catches for 115 yards and a touchdown, and Pickens also had a late-game opportunity himself that he appeared to stop short of leading to questions about his effort. But having Lamb on the field would seem to open things up for Pickens, which is something they may need on Sunday against a Vikings defense that ranks fourth in the NFL with 172.3 passing yards allowed per game.
If Lamb is on the field along with Pickens, the Cowboys should be able to move the ball more easily and could even find a way to get Flournoy more involved. Should that happen, Pickens will be happy to take advantage of the situation and perhaps keep Dallas’s fleeting playoff hopes alive.
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‘ The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties ’
‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source sportdfw.com ’
