Star wide receiver CeeDee Lamb made an impact despite not playing for the Dallas Cowboys during their pre-season 31-21 loss to the LA Rams.

Lamb was inadvertently involved from the sidelines, taking a heavy hit and giving away a penalty when an official collided with him.

The 26-year-old turned his back to the action, holding up his left hand to celebrate a long pass from quarterback Joe Milton III to Jonathan Mingo. With neither looking at each other, a sprinting sideline official charged straight into Lamb, knocking him to the ground.

Lamb did get up laughing but the Cowboys were penalised.

“It’s a sideline interference,” referee Alex Moore said in the pool report to the LA Times. “CeeDee Lamb was standing in the restricted white border area, which is our area to officiate the game.

“The official on the play was focused solely on doing his job and he ran into CeeDee Lamb, who was standing in that restricted area. That’s what happened. And with that contact, it’s an automatic foul.”

“It’s more of a rare situation,” Moore added. “Normally we don’t have anybody standing that deep into the restricted area, or that type of forceful contact. So, it is a rare occurrence, but it does happen from time to time.”

Dallas Cowboys head coach Brian Schottenheimer said: “Just like the pre-snap penalties, that penalty, we’ve got to be better with discipline.

“I hope the guy’s OK. I think he’s OK, the official that he ran into, but we have to be better than that. CeeDee knows better. We know better.”