CeeDee Lamb Achieves Career High, Secures Win for Cowboys Against Texans

The Dallas Cowboys (2-2) looked doomed at halftime in Houston, trailing the Texans (0-4) by double digits.

Then,  CeeDee Lamb put on his Superman cape.

Lamb, sitting on six catches for 49 yards, erupted in the second half for 11 more catches, 140 more receiving yards and the game-winning 12-yard receiving touchdown to finish with 189 yards receiving, a touchdown and 17 catches in a 34-30 Dallas victory. Those 17 catches rank as the most in a single game by a wide receiver in Cowboys history, and only  Jason Witten ever caught more passes in a Cowboys game, back in 2012. Lamb is also the only Cowboy with 15-plus catches and 175-plus yards in a game. Prescott finished the afternoon with 335 yards and the touchdown to Lamb on 32 of 45 passing.

"I just want Schotty [coach Brian Schottenheimer] to know that I got his back. I'm with him. I'm one of his strongest soldiers," Lamb said postgame on Sunday, via The Dallas Morning News . "It's just going to battle with each other. I feel like once you have that confidence and know who you're going to battle with, just shoot your gun, and I feel like he shot it."

After realizing the wordplay he pulled off in talking about Schottenheimer taking his "shot," or rather his "schot," by continuing to dial plays for him, it hit Lamb exactly how locked in he was on Sunday, both on and off the field.

"Wow," Lamb said, via The Dallas Morning News . "That's fire."

Perhaps one of the craziest things about Lamb's day is that Lamb had multiple catches against six different Texans defensive players on Sunday, per the NFL's Next Gen Stats via SB Nation. Houston literally had no answers for No. 88 in blue.

> Dallas Cowboys WR CeeDee Lamb was targeted on 21/45 routes during Sunday's win in Houston, the most targets by any receiver to have run 45 or fewer routes in a game during the Next Gen Stats era (since 2016). CeeDee had multiple receptions when matched up against 6 different… pic.twitter.com/wPlKSbBBmT — RJ Ochoa (@rjochoa) October 4, 2026

Most importantly, Lamb caught the game-winning touchdown to give Dallas the victory over Houston.

"As soon as it was called, I knew it was a touchdown," Prescott said postgame, via The Dallas Morning News .

> CEEDEE LAMB'S CAREER GAME IS CLUTCH FOR THE COWBOYS 🔥 📺: FOX/FOX ONE pic.twitter.com/fixkANRDjA — FOX Sports: NFL (@NFLonFOX) October 4, 2026

Sunday was the Cowboys' 11th game allowing 30-plus points since the start of the 2025 season. Perhaps new Cowboys cornerback Joey Porter Jr . can help get things turned once he is able to play a full game's worth of snaps. He missed the first three games of the 2026 season while in a contract standoff with the Pittsburgh Steelers . In his Dallas debut on Sunday, he played on 42.3% (22 of 52) of the Cowboys' defensive snaps, and Porter Jr. wasn't targeted during his 17 coverage snaps.

Porter Jr. and the rest of the Cowboys roster might end up watching an all-time season from Lamb should he keep up the pace he's on through the first four games of the 2026 season. Lamb is up to 498 yards receiving and four receiving touchdowns on 37 catches at the moment. That has him on pace for 2,116 yards receiving and 17 receiving touchdowns on 157 catches. All three of those figures would shatter the Cowboys' single-season receiving record for each of those statistics, while 2,116 yards receiving and 157 catches would stand alone atop the NFL's single-season record books. His 498 yards receiving are now the most in Cowboys history through the first four games of a season.

In years past, the Cowboys had bell cow running backs like Tony Dorsett, Emmitt Smith and  Ezekiel Elliott . Today, Lamb, in tandem with Prescott, is the powerful playmaker that could drag Dallas' entire franchise, struggling defense and all, back to the postseason for the first time since 2023.

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_Originally reported by [CBS Sports](https://www.cbssports.com/nfl/news/ceedee-lamb-stats-cowboys-record-texans/)._