Hall of Fame quarterback Troy Aikman recently made critical comments about the Dallas Cowboys’ receivers, describing their route-running as “terrible” and labeling them as “lazy” when starting off the line of scrimmage.

Following Aikman’s assessment, Cowboys receiver CeeDee Lamb was asked for his thoughts during a press conference.

“Got to be better overall,” Lamb stated, according to Calvin Watkins of the Dallas Morning News.

When pressed on whether he agreed with Aikman’s criticism, Lamb simply replied, “Next question.”

Quarterback Dak Prescott attempted to downplay Aikman’s remarks.

He noted, “[W]hether he got personal, whether he went too far, once again the guy gets paid to do that and he’s doing a job.”

Prescott emphasized that Aikman’s role is to provoke discussion, but added, “the last thing I’m allowed to do is create division inside this building.”

Given the Dallas Cowboys owner and general manager Jerry Jones’s respect for Aikman, disagreeing with him could indeed lead to tension. Jones remarked, “Troy knows football. My goodness, he lives it.

When he was here, he was one of the most astute and hard-working people I’ve ever seen at evaluating tape or looking at how a team is playing. Troy’s credible, boy.”

Aikman’s remarks originated from a broadcast on 1310 The Ticket in Dallas, where he stated, “I think the routes are terrible.

I think they run terrible routes, and I’ve thought that beyond this year. I think CeeDee 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.”

Aikman also expressed concerns about the receivers’ effort: “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.”

Possible issues with route running could stem from Jones’s failure to resolve Lamb’s contract situation before training camp began. Prescott commented, “Yeah, I mean obviously you have to look at camp and you think about that.

You can call it an excuse or whatever, but it just goes into, right, as I said, being consistent, whether it be my read or his route, then us — I say communication up front — but communication there.

When you haven’t had that time in camp, you’ve got to be able to communicate through things, which obviously some of these meetings have been adjusted to make sure those happen.”

Regardless of the cause, something seems off within the Cowboys’ receiving corps.

Lamb’s reluctance to directly agree or disagree with Aikman’s evaluation suggests that there may be underlying issues that need to be addressed.

The team faces pressure to improve their performance, particularly in the wake of such public scrutiny.