4t AIKMAN’S KNIFE STRIKES TWICE: Troy Torches CeeDee Lamb as “LAZY” Again — Fresh Cowboys Carnage After Cardinals Collapse Ignites a New Inferno of Fury and Finger-Pointing

CeeDee Lamb had a decent outing against the Cards, but there was one particular play Troy Aikman didn’t like.

Dallas Cowboys wide receiver CeeDee Lamb | Brooke Sutton/GettyImages

The Dallas Cowboys suffered yet another disheartening loss on Monday night, taking a 27-17 defeat at the hands of the Arizona Cardinals, thus dropping America’s Team to 3-5-1 as we hit the official midway point of this 2025 NFL regular season.

As this former divisional matchup was contested on Monday Night Football, Cowboys legend Troy Aikman was naturally on the call for ESPN (hope you were able to find a way to watch it, YouTube TV customers), and the three-time Super Bowl champ certainly had no problem criticizing his former team, with much of that condemnation being directed toward the Dallas defense, which was certainly warranted, as Matt Eberflus’ unit had another disastrous outing.

Aikman also had no problem taking a direct shot at Jerry Jones, literally laughing at the Cowboys’ owner’s ridiculous pre-game trade tease (which turned out to be linebacker Logan Wilson), saying that one player wouldn’t make much of a difference, which is accurate.

However, there was another little dig from Aikman that seemingly went mostly unnoticed. But it certainly stood out during the broadcast because, for the second time in roughly a year, he used the word “lazy” when discussing CeeDee Lamb.

Troy Aikman called out CeeDee Lamb for being a little lazy coming to the ball

Now, this wasn’t as big of a thing as it was last year, which we’ll circle back to momentarily. But again, it stood out, at least to this writer.

On the Cowboys’ first offensive drive of the second half, with Dallas trailing 24-7, the offense lined up for a 1st-and-10 from the Dallas 45-yard line. Dak Prescott took the snap, dropped back, and targeted Lamb on the left side, only to watch Cardinals cornerback Will Johnson aggressively step up to knock the ball down.

For legal reasons, we can’t show the play here. However, if you watch the clip HERE, you can hear Aikman describe how Johnson gets back to the ball faster than Lamb does. And right after, he says, “Lamb’s a little lazy coming out of the route working back to the quarterback.”

Now, it honestly doesn’t seem like Aikman thought Lamb, who ultimately caught seven passes for 85 yards, was playing lazy all night, although if you check social media, there were plenty of people out there who did. So, perhaps it was just that one particular play.

However, given the things Aikman has said in the past, this isn’t something to ignore. For those who may have forgotten, last October, with the Cowboys having recently taken an embarrassing 47-9 loss to the Detroit Lions, Aikman called out the entire Dallas receiving corps but specifically singled out Lamb.

“I think they run terrible routes,” Aikman said then. “And I’ve thought that beyond this year. I think CeeDee (Lamb) has got to improve in his route running. As a quarterback, if you’re not certain where guys are going to be consistently, it’s hard to play the position. That’s what I see. I see guys lazy coming off the line of scrimmage. Sometimes they run, usually if they do, it’s because they’re anticipating they’re going to get the football on that play, but if they’re not, they don’t. And it all ties together. I’m not impressed with that part of it.”

Lamb took the criticism in stride and almost sounded thankful for Aikman saying what he said.

“Me as a leader, I obviously take it in,” Lamb responded during an interview with former Cowboys head coach Jason Garrett. “You gotta work. I use it as a building block. If you say those out routes are lazy, things of that sort, let’s go out here every week. And I’m gonna show you that my routes. You know? Personally, I take that as constructive criticism. You can’t really take everything personal in this realm of work that we do.

“Especially things that we can control. So if we can control it, let’s go out here, work at it, and continue to get better. For me, I’ll go work, I’m a hard worker. So anything that you say that I’m not doing, I’m gonna show you that I am doing.”

This latest criticism from Aikman doesn’t seem like it’ll blow up like things did a year ago. But it’s certainly worth keeping an eye on.