It was no mystery going into their game against the Dallas Cowboys that the Houston Texans needed to contain Dallas’ top receivers, CeeDee Lamb and George Pickens.
With the exception of a 53-yard reception to set up a touchdown drive, Pickens was kept at bay.
However, the Texans had little success against Lamb, especially in the second half of a 34-30 loss.
Lamb had a career-defining game coverage against Kamari Lassiter and Derek Stingely Jr. He finished with a career-high 17 receptions and the third-most receiving yards in a game with 189.
He also scored the game-winning touchdown for Dallas with 34 seconds left.
CeeDee Lamb today: 17 catches 189 receiving yards TD to take the late lead@DALvsHOU on FOX/FOX One Stream on @NFLPlus pic.twitter.com/fkKX2N6kor
— NFL (@NFL) October 4, 2026
On Monday after the game, head coach DeMeco Ryans reacted to how the Texans failed to contain Lamb.
“For me, it starts with us and what do we control,” Ryans said. “CeeDee Lamb is an outstanding player. He did a great job versus us, making a ton of plays. I thought Dallas did a really good job of moving him around in different spots, whether it was in the slot, whether it was out at number one, motioning him around, they moved him around a lot of different ways. We had a lot of different guys who were tasked with covering him, whether it was from a zone perspective or from a man perspective; a lot of different things that we were doing and he made a lot of plays on us.”
In their Week 5 game against the Tennessee Titans, the Texans have rookie receiver Carnell Tate out of Ohio State who has gotten off to a slow start to his career. However, the Texans cannot overlook Tate in this game, or they will be in danger of dropping to 0-5 for the year and becoming the only winless team in the division.
This article originally appeared on Texans Wire: Texans HC DeMeco Ryans reacts to lack of containment vs WR CeeDee Lamb
