FRISCO, Texas — CeeDee Lamb said Thursday that he wants “a chance at the tournament” after the Dallas Cowboys missed the playoffs in each of the last two seasons, three days before they open against the New York Giants.
Dallas went 7-10 in 2024 and 7-9-1 in 2025. Its last playoff game was a 48-32 wild-card loss to the Green Bay Packers at AT&T Stadium on Jan. 14, 2024. Kickoff Sunday at MetLife Stadium is 7:20 p.m. CT on NBC.
Lamb wants the Cowboys’ offense to proclaim dominance this season.
“I don’t really like going home that early, unfortunately,” Lamb said. “I love playoffs, love the big games. I want a chance at the tournament. And overall, us as an offense, I want us to proclaim dominance. I want us to be who we think we are. And overall, only so many words could be said, and I’m very wanting to put it into action.”
Lamb has played in three postseasons. Dallas went 12-5 in 2021, 2022, and 2023 and won the NFC East twice in that span. The Cowboys lost to the San Francisco 49ers in the wild-card round after the 2021 season. A year later, they won at Tampa Bay, 31-14, and lost at San Francisco, 19-12, in the divisional round.
Lamb does not expect it to take a while to get into a rhythm this season. He said he is in a better place mentally, physically, and emotionally than he was a year ago, when he missed three games.
CeeDee Lamb On Becoming an Older Player In The Cowboys’ Locker Room
The Cowboys took Lamb 17th overall out of Oklahoma in 2020. Through six seasons, he has 571 catches for 7,416 yards and 41 touchdowns in 95 regular-season games, according to Pro Football Reference. In 2023, he led the NFL with 135 catches and was a first-team All-Pro.
Lamb said he spent five of his years in the league as the youngest player in the locker room.
“Let’s just say when I walk around the locker room, I see people that’s younger than me,” Lamb explained. “And I feel like at that point, that’s kind of where my brain starts functioning a little bit different. Because normally, for five of my years in the league, I was the youngest in the locker room for five years. But lots of experience, man, lots of roller coasters of emotions. I’ve learned a lot. I’ve cherished a lot. I’ve gained a lot. I’ve lost a lot.
“And I feel like throughout this process, it’s been very educating,” Lamb continued. “I’ve learned a lot, and I feel like it motivated me into the person and the player that I am now.”
Knowing what he is getting himself into every week is the part of being an older player Lamb likes, along with passing that down.
“It ain’t nothing in particular,” Lamb said. “It’s just I have experience. I have knowledge, and I feel like, personally, knowledge is power. So just knowing what I’m getting myself into every weekend and every week, and I’m able to share that knowledge of personal experience of certain things to pass it down, and I like that. I like that feeling.”
In 2025, Lamb caught 75 passes for 1,077 yards and three touchdowns in 14 games. He made his fifth straight Pro Bowl. He is in the second year of a four-year, $136 million extension, which he signed after holding out through training camp in 2024.
CeeDee Lamb On The Cowboys’ Super Bowl Goal
The ring is on the Cowboys’ minds every day, Lamb said, even though they do not talk about it every day.
“We don’t talk about it every day,” Lamb said. That’s just the end goal every day. And I feel like once we all understand the end goal, we’re going to put the right preparation in every single day and just continue to build off that.”
The Giants went 4-13 last season and hired John Harbaugh as head coach on Jan. 20, after his 18 seasons with the Baltimore Ravens, who won the Super Bowl under him after the 2012 season. Dallas swept the Giants in 2024 and split with them last season. After the opener, the Cowboys host the Washington Commanders on Sept. 20 at AT&T Stadium.
