The Dallas Cowboys will be in the headlines again coming out of their Monday Night Football matchup against the Las Vegas Raiders and it will have nothing to do with the outcome of the game itself.
To the surprise of everyone in attendance at Allegiant Stadium, as well as the fans tuning in on ESPN, Cowboys star wide receivers CeeDee Lamb and George Pickens were noticeably absent from the offense for Dallas on their opening series. This was despite the Cowboys lining up in three receiver sets on the series in question.
It was understandable that fans would think the worst with neither player taking the field with the offense to start the game. It wasn't until ESPN's Lisa Salters reported that Dallas' media relations staff informed her that Lamb and Pickens weren't dealing with injuries and their absence from the starting lineup was due to a coach's decision. Nick Harris of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram went on to report that the WR pairing had "missed some things" leading up to the game.
Cowboys Cannot Avoid Creating Drama When It Isn't Warranted
Cowboys head coach Brian Schottenheimer will undoubtedly be asked about what Salters reported was "strictly a coach's decision," but no matter what his answer is, the circus Dallas has already created will outweigh whatever message the coach was trying to send.
Once it became clear that Lamb and Pickens were on the sidelines for disciplinary reasons, the opinions spread like wildfire on social media. RJ Ochoa of Blogging The Boys was among the many who were quick to question the motivation behind Schottenheimer's decision. While players must be held accountable, everything else regarding the move is puzzling at best, and, quite frankly, tone -deaf at worst.
Rightfully so, the majority of the buildup to this matchup was focused on Marshawn Kneeland, with this being the first time the Cowboys have taken the field since his untimely death. In one fell swoop, Schottenheimer managed to change the narrative of the night in as disastrous a manner as any public relations professional could imagine.
If whatever Lamb and Pickens did to earn punishment from Schottenheimer was bad enough to get benched for just one series, there was a better way that the Cowboys' leader on the sidelines could have made his point to his star receivers. By doing that, Schottenheimer wouldn't have immediately taken away from what was supposed to be a celebration of Kneeland.
This is just another episode in the soap opera that is Jerry Jones' Dallas Cowboys, though. Perhaps fans are just numb to it at this point.