Thursday Night Football takes us from the AFC East last week to the NFC East in Week 4 as dreaded rivals, the Dallas Cowboys and New York Giants, square off on primetime.
Of course, rivalry might be pushing it a bit; the Cowboys have been an NFC East powerhouse for much of the Dak Prescott era, while the Giants have been anything but. Regardless, there are fantasy angles aplenty here — let’s get to the tale of the tape. And speaking of tales …
A tale of two WR1s
CeeDee Lamb was in consideration for the No. 1 pick for much of the summer (and in hindsight, he might’ve been the safest option of all, as Christian McCaffrey has been on the shelf with a serious Achilles injury and Tyreek Hill lost his starting quarterback for the foreseeable future). Malik Nabers was a mid-round pick, with most of the community accepting the foregone conclusion that Daniel Jones would limit Nabers’ otherwise lofty ceiling.
Through three weeks, Nabers is the WR1 in all of fantasy football. Lamb is all the way down at WR19.
My colleague Scott Pianowski predicted the Giants would be targeting Nabers the moment he got off the bus this season. That prediction has rung true thus far; Nabers leads the league in WR targets. This, in my opinion, is what has held Lamb back this season — targets. He only has 24 total through the first three weeks, and just 13 catches. That is nowhere near enough for 2023’s overall fantasy WR1. And considering the Cowboys aren’t exactly flush with pass catchers — not to mention Jake Ferguson has been hampered with injuries — it’s no surprise the Cowboys offense hasn’t found their stride so far (definitely excluding garbage time in Week 3).
The Cowboys, no doubt angry about their Week 3 loss against the Ravens — Lamb himself has apologized for his performance and frustrations in that game — should win this game. If the Giants have any chance at the upset, they will continue doing what they’ve done this season: flood Nabers with targets. But maybe Dallas should take a page out of New York’s book and do the same with their All-World superstar receiver.
I expect Lamb to put up his best performance of the season in this game.
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Is Rico Dowdle starting to run away with the RB1 job?
The Cowboys have been lambasted this season by fans and talking heads alike for their negligence at addressing the running back position this offseason. After all, they could’ve signed Derrick Henry (who tore through the Dallas defense in Week 3) or drafted Braelon Allen (who looks like he could be a starter if there wasn’t a Breece-Hall-shaped obstacle in his way). Instead, the team decided to roll with unproven Rico Dowdle and the ghost of Ezekiel Elliott.
Things haven’t exactly worked out for Dallas in that regard. Startlingly, Dallas is averaging the third-fewest total rushing yards per game in the NFL.
Now, you might think, by the header of this blurb, that I’m going to pose the scenario of Rico Dowdle saving the day. That’s unlikely. This offense, at least this season, should live and die by the arm of Dak Prescott. But at least Dowdle has shown some improvement in the backfield, and, if given the keys, could serve as a solid complement to the passing game. And those keys might’ve inched further in Dowdle’s direction in Week 3. He out-carried Zeke, 8-3, and added another three receptions for 53 yards.
Sure, the Cowboys were playing catch-up for most of the day. We’ll see how the backfield distribution shakes out against the Giants, which should be a positive gamescript for Dem Boys. But Dowdle now has strung two consecutive weeks of more backfield work than Elliott. If he takes over this backfield in full, Dowdle will leap from fringe-flex option to RB2 territory.
His workload and subsequent production will be something to watch on TNF.
Start: Devin Singletary
It’s not exactly the sexiest suggestion, to start Devin Singletary if you’re debating a flex option, or to continue starting him if you’ve had no choice. After all, it feels like he’s a journeyman at age 27 and he was a running back you could select around pick 100.
Yet, all he does is produce, in 2024 and throughout his career.
Singletary has scored a touchdown in consecutive games, and he’s been producing at a 4.7-yards-per-carry clip. Sure, the Cowboys will undoubtedly be looking to address their run defense issues after Derrick Henry crushed them for 174 total yards and two touchdowns — the Cowboys have the worst rushing defense through three weeks — but it would behoove the Giants to feed Singletary and burn clock to keep Prescott and the Dallas offense off the field. And the way the Jones-Nabers connection has been clicking, Singletary has a high chance at a third straight touchdown. Fire him up.
