NFC Notes: Bill Belichick, Brian Daboll, CeeDee Lamb, Cowboys, Giants

Cowboys

Former Cowboys’ Hall of Fame QB Troy Aikman had stark criticism of Dallas’ wide receivers, including CeeDee Lamb, saying they run “terrible routes” and are lazy at the line of scrimmage. 

“I think the routes are terrible. I think they run terrible routes. 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,” Aikman said, via Jon Machota. 

Aikman has seen better route running from the Ravens, 49ers, and Packers this season and abhors what he’s seen from Dallas’ receivers when studying their film. 

“I just finished watching the Baltimore Ravens because I have them this week. You put on film of theirs and watch their receivers run routes and they come off the football, so does San Francisco’s and Green Bay’s and others. But it’s hard to play the (QB) position if you’re not certain how guys are going to run routes or where they’re going to be. And I’m not speaking for Dak (Prescott). Dak may say, ‘Hey, I think (their routes) are amazing.’ But as a former quarterback watching it, it’s gotta get a lot better.”

Cowboys

When appearing on SiriusXM NFL Radio, former Patriots HC Bill Belichick commented on how the Cowboys’ season hasn’t gone as planned. In the end, Belichick thinks Dallas’ ownership may grow tired of their results. 

“Yeah, it certainly looks like a tough situation down there in Dallas and I’m sure that ownership is very frustrated about not only the start of this season, but the end of last season. And it’s just tough. They had a great year last year and then had a very poor performance against Green Bay in the playoffs. Got off to a good start this year in Cleveland, and then it’s been pretty rocky since then. Meanwhile, Stephen and Jerry Jones have shelled out a lot of money to some very high profile players and have tried to give the team as many resources as they can to win and just haven’t had good results. I’ve always talked about Mike McCarthy, I think he’s one of the best coaches in the league. Mike Zimmer is one of the best defensive coaches in the league, and Bones is a great special teams coach. But for some reason it’s just not coming together. There’s a long way to go. Something’s gonna have to start happening fast. I don’t know enough internally about what that is, but I would say it’s really on everybody that’s gotta play, coach and just generally perform better.” (Jon Machota)

Giants

Giants HC Brian Daboll feels the team’s recent 17-7 loss to the Bengals resulted from not generating any explosive plays.  

“Well, again, you’re not happy with the result, and you’re not happy with the points,” Daboll said, via Paul Schwartz of the New York Post. “Our inability, I would say, this game, to generate explosive plays, whether that’s through the run or through the air is not where I want it to be right now. So, we’ll keep doing it. Keep calling them.”

Giants WR Wan’Dale Robinson said their offense let the defense down in Week 6 after limiting the Bengals to 304 yards of total offense. 

“They don’t really say too much about it or anything, but just internally, we feel like we let those guys down,” Robinson said. “I feel like they played a helluva game, and we just didn’t go out there and put up enough points for those guys. There’s no blame or anything like that. It’s football. There could be one game when we’re clicking and they might not be clicking the way that they want. We’re one big team, and everybody holds each other accountable. There’s no blame to go around.”

Giants OLB Brian Burns still thinks their defense left plays on the field. 

“Like I said, it’s frustrating and there are more plays to be made and more things that we can do to change the game,” Burns said. “If we want to be an elite defense and live up to who we say we are, then we have to make those plays.”